Useless But Try Anyway
by Rouge Spirit
Summary: Life sucks. You have the chance to change things but all efforts are eventually reduced to zilch. Sometimes though, leaving things as they are is the wisest decision you could make. You screw the timeline by being there anyway. Might as well not cause anymore chaos than you probably will. A better outcome may be your reward.
1. Chapter 1

**Whelp. Taking a whack at this again. Now that I don't suck at writing anymore. I'm going to redo this story. Completely. New readers and old. Welcome to Beating Heart! This is not a SI btw**

 **Edit: The name is now Useless but Try Anyway as not to confuse anyone. I felt like the name should be completely different now that the current version of this story is nowhere close to the original. The plot to the setting to the protagonist herself is completely new. Beating Heart doesn't fit anymore. So welcome to Useless but Try Anyway**

I do not own One Piece

"Ugghh! You need to stop crying over this. It's annoying. " my younger brother folded his arms, voice laced with irritation. " You watched this set of episodes three times already. What are you? A masochist?"

I was watching Law's back story for the third time and for the third time I broke out in tears. There was just something about the episodes that kept drawing me to them despite the massive heartbreak and emptiness I felt once each episode concluded. Their expressions, the raw emotion behind each voice. Each scene. No. Each individual frame despite the similarities told their own story. Had their own meanings. I couldn't even comprehend how well this backstory was done. Out of the ones I had watched so far, this was by far my absolute favorite. A tale of rejection and betrayal. An unlikely friendship bonded between two completely opposite people. Simply marvelous.

" No." I defended myself, wiping several tears that were replaced with new ones. "You don't like or watch One Piece, so you'll never understand!" I whined, a pout accompanying folded arms.

My attention was temporarily diverted to the deep frown that cemented itself in my brother's face. Clear sounds on my laptop becoming nothing but muffled noises as Yanai and I were interlocked in a battle of non-verbal superiority. My pout versus his deep-set frown. For the longest, he had won, his iron stare usually shattering me within the first few minutes. Not today. My pride as the oldest sibling was tossed around enough. Between being mistaken for twins and him as the oldest, I had lost some level of dignity, watching as he slowly began to tower over me like some sort of skyscraper.

 _BANG!_

I jumped up slightly, startled from the sudden noise coming from my lap. I looked down at the screen. The end of Doflamingo's barrel pointed at Corazon, yet…smoke had already been pouring from the mouth of the gun. Spots of vermillion dotted Corazon's heavily stained shirt. The younger blonde's eyes began to flutter as he belted his inner monologue, smile on his face as he wished Law the best.

I didn't scream or cry as I did the first time I witnessed this murder. However, my head did hang down, dark brown locks shadowing my glasses covered eyes. Slowly, I brought the screen down and slide the laptop on the side of my bed. I rolled over in my bed, back facing Yanai as I brought my comforters up to my neck.

"Please leave. It is now time for my half hour brooding session. Door is at your 3:00."

I didn't need to turn around to know that my younger brother had shaken his head and rolled his head. Despite his seemingly irritated expression, I didn't miss the soft chuckling sigh that escaped his lips from my actions.

"You're too sweet for this world. You know that right?"

"Mmm." I turned my head towards him and titled my head upwards towards him slightly, an 'oh. I know' expression on my face.

I could feel his body pressing into mine as I hovered above my face, gently pulling my glasses off them, folding the legs then resting them on the night stand.

"Happy brooding." he said as he left the room, shutting my door with a quiet click.

.

.

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 _BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

I nearly leaped out of my bed, startled as I was suddenly jerked out my peaceful and dreamless sleep. The sudden infiltration of my eardrums with such a jarring sound left me so disoriented that when I leaned over to fetch my glasses, I stretched to far tumbled out of my bed, dragging the comforters down with me.

With a pained groan, I rubbed my eyes, and sat up from my face down position on the floor, kicking off the comforters in the process. Getting up, I rolled the bedspreads into a ball and tossed them back on top of the mattress. I put on my glasses and grabbed my phone and put in the password, smiling at the wallpaper. It was a picture of Luffy and Chopper pressing their cheeks against an irked Law. My eyes moved to the top right corner of the screen and widened.

"Oh noes! I'm going to be late for school!" I exclaimed as I ran out of my room, and down the hall to where the bathroom had resided.

I had slept through the entirety of yesterday. I pushed through the door, nearly breaking the frame as I yanked off my pajamas and jumped in the shower, heavily flinching as several beams of freezing cold water contacted my tan skin. Eventually the water warmed, and I was able to take a decent shower, brushing my teeth in the process. I jumped out and dried myself off, well, not completely given the way my uniform stuck to me as I tried to pull it on. Dumping out my book bag on the floor, I tossed in the things I needed for the day and quite literally flew down the stairs.

In my haste I had tripped on the third step, floating in mid air for a few seconds before gravity took control of me, bringing me down. Luckily, Yanai had caught me before I landed on the jagged edges of the steps and seriously injure myself.

"Whoa. Watch where you're going Speedy Gonzales." He smiled, setting me down on the ground.

"Quiet you." a smile tugged on the corner of my lips as I straightened my uniform.

In the corner of my eyes, I could see that he was looking at me with a quizzical expression, head moving up and down my slim frame. Suddenly he began to laugh, having to lean against the wall to brace himself but ended up sliding down anyway.

"Um…what's so funny?" I raised my eye brow at him, innocently unaware

"I-I'm sorry." He stuttered through laughs. "Oh man…ugh. I guess this is my fault but whoo. Oh man…ugh…Bahahaha!" he calmed down briefly only to start laughing again.

"What's so funny?" I stomped my foot down a slightly miffed expression forming on my face. I ended up sighing, rolling my eyes in the process as I walked past him, grabbing a slice of bread and quickly smearing butter on it. "I have to time for your foolishness. I'm going to late."

I opened the door, not hearing his warning, and was greeted by a blast of wind so hot that I immediately started sweated. I peered outside, everything was completely warped.

"What?" I slammed the door shut, confusion laced in my facial featured.

"I meant to tell school was cancelled today because of the heat wave. The only reason you're not feeling anything was because the current temperature of inside and the current temperature of outside is cancelling each other." He finally explained to me, wiping away tear streaks.

"Is this the product of your 'Homemade A/C Unit?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yep!" he stuck his thumbs up with a 'D' shaped grin.

Yanai was an inventor. An inventor that insisted on building every electrical appliance that we owned himself. Or at least buying them out of the stores and adding his own modifications. He exclaimed that the current inventors were not seeing outside the box, only working along the lines of what people wanted rather than what they needed. If that makes any sense.

It worked by recording the outside temperature, then adjusting the indoor temperature to cancel the outside temperature. It resulted in a weirdly neutral atmosphere. Never hot and never cold. At first, it was a bit disorienting living in an atmosphere where you couldn't distinctly feel any changes in atmospheric temperature. The numbers were always fluctuating, tracking the shifts in the outside temperature to keep up with the changes. Almost as if our house and the outside was just a giant reversible reaction.

He got his genius from mom while I, on the other hand, inherited my dad's ability to carry a tune. Also, I could play the guitar. But that's about it.

I sigh climbing over the couch and sunk in the seat head first, my skirt flipping over to obey the laws of gravity.

"Can't you sit in the couch like a normal person?" Yanai asked as he sat next to me then immediately turning his head at the panty shot provided by my flipped skirt.

"Nope". I giggled, grabbing the remote for the television.

I turned on the set and scrolled through the channels, looking for something interesting to watch. Unfortunately, there was nothing that caught the interest of my brother and me. It was then that we heard a scuttling noise coming from the ceiling, a loud thump and pained mewls.

Yanai let out a huff and stood up. "Stupid cat." He grumbled.

I grabbed at his shirt before he left my stretching range. "Hold up bro. I got this." Turning upright, I got off the couch and entered the hall that led to the basement. Instead of going down there I looked up and tiptoed, fingers barely scraping against the string hanging down.

I managed to grab it and pulled as hard as I could, standing back as a set of stairs slowly descended from the ceiling. I climbed up, immediately sneezing as I stuck my head in our dusty musty attic. I turned my head, looking for the source of the pained noises.

"Ah!" I finished ascending the stairs and moved over to the cat, whose tail was trapped beneath a pile of boxes. Again.

I gave a chuckle to the stray that repeatedly came back. No matter how far we sent it, it always seemed to find its way back here. And the one time we tried to accept it, it rejected us and ran away. Such a mysterious creature. I gently moved the boxes and watched as the cat immediately scuttled away, knocking more boxes in the process. I face palm and re-stacked the boxes.

It was then that I noticed something shiny glimmering between the floor boards. I knelt and dug it from the crevices, giving what appeared to be a pendent with the symbol of Doflamingo's Jolly Roger a quizzical look. I simply shrugged, stuffing it in my shirt pocket.

As I made my way down the attic stairs, I suddenly began to feel sick. A sinking feeling in my stomach as my head became light. The world tilted on its axis. No. I was. I had overstepped and was now falling. The motion making me feel like I wanted to puke. My head slammed against the last step, probably leaving a gash as I felt something warm drip down my face.

Yanai must have heard the bang my crashing body made because I heard him screaming my name and the thumps of his heavy footfalls. Everything was muddled. Stars danced in the corners of my blurry vision. My glasses must have fallen off my face sometime during the stumble.

I felt warm hands cradle my body.

"…hold on…. everything's doing to be alright…" was the last thing I heard before I completely blacked out.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally opened my eyes. It was bright, too bright. So, I closed them again and rolled over, hand landing in something wet. The sudden splash instead woke me up as I jumped up to wipe whatever was on my shirt. However, that motion was forgotten when I saw where I was. It was an alleyway. A surprisingly clean one at that. I whipped my head around trying to figure out where I was. One moment I was at the bottom of attic stairs, feeling poisoned and now I'm in an alley way. I put a hand to my head still bleeding. What was strange was that I could see clearly. Nothing was blurry, as if the world had switched from 240p to 1080p. This was the least of my concerns.

"Yanai?! Yanai?! Where are you?!" I shouted, cupping my hands to my mouth as I looked up and down the alley way. "This isn't funny Yanai?" I frowned, even though I knew my brother would never do anything like this.

I huffed, tears threatening to fall down my face. "Ugh. Standing in this alley wouldn't get me anywhere."

So, I left. And paused at a sight I had only ever seen in anime. I gripped my head and shook it back and forth. No. This was impossible. This absolutely cannot be happened. There's no way my possibly concussed brain could cook up a fictional place with such detail. Yet, I had to try.

"Excuse me…is…is this Flevance? The White City?" I nervously asked a man dressed lavishly.

"Why yes this is!" the man cheerfully answered before noticing my haggard appearance. "Oh dear. You're hurt! Come, let me lead you to the hospital. I'm sure Dr. Trafalgar can help you." He out stretched his hand. But I didn't take it.

I was too shocked, stunned, my body froze, eyes unfocused, as my jaw fell slightly agape. I felt sick again, and I winced as I fainted, head colliding with the concrete. My senses were muffled once again, the only thing I was hearing were sounds of urgency. The only thing I felt was foreign hands manhandling my body. But I couldn't do anything about it.

I woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors preparing to take clothes off and replace it with a white medical gown.

"Don't touch me." I said a bit more hostile than intended given how some of them backed away.

"Now now. Don't be afraid." a voice I had heard only once cut through the mumbles of the other doctors.

In the sea of white coats was a coat much whiter than the rest. The coat was draped around the frame of a man with short black hair and a thin mustache. He was wearing thick coke bottle glass and he held a clip board in his hand. Immediately tensed up and tried to leave the bed, only to be halted by the IV drip connected by my wrist.

"Hey hey hey. Calm down. Calm down. We're not doing to hurt you. Poor dear. Frightened to bits she is." I heard him say through my screams of protest as the other doctors tried to calm me down.

"No! No! Shut up! Stop talking! Stop talking! You're not real! You're not real! "I shouted, everything a haze as I yanked the IV out my wrist and rammed through the doctors, running towards the door but stopped to stare at the person that had entered.

"Mom. What's going on? We're going to be late to the festival." asked a voice full of concern.

And I froze at the sight before me. It was a young Trafalgar Law. The one before the boy who strapped grenades around his chest. The one before the boy who wanted to watch the world burn. The one who didn't have a mental break down. The one full of hope and happiness, not hell bent on revenge.

Seeing a person in an anime was completely different from seeing them in real life. Needless to say, it was absolutely jarring. The way his tan skin reflected the light. The way little tufts of dark blue hair peeked from beneath his snow leopard print cap. His gold eyes reflecting my image a thousand times like a kaleidoscope. They weren't a sharp ice cold gray blue like the anime portrayed them. They were warm, streaks and flecks of amber dotting them.

I halfway snapped out of it, accidently muttering. "Death surrounds all of you." Before I jumped out the open window. I landed in a dense bush with a grunt, ignoring all the scrapes I received and the loss of my shoes. It didn't matter. I needed to get out of here. Everything would go to hell so quickly the transfer from 1 to 100 wouldn't even be noticeable. I didn't want to be here when Marines started blasting holes in people. Or burning buildings. I didn't want the screams of the dying etched in my brain ready to be repeated at the drop of a hat. I wouldn't be able to handle that.

Yet, something prevented me from dashing off. The thought, of saving at least one person. Lami. I knew what was going to happen to her. If I could just linger and pull her out of the building. There is a chance that she could live as long as him and when he ate the fruit, he could heal himself and her. I shook my head. No. She was already in the most advanced stages of the disease. She would never make it. Her burning to death was a mercy. I shook my head. This is a dream, right? I could do whatever I wanted right? Flevance didn't have to burn. Law and Lami didn't have to get sick right? Corazon didn't have to die.

I was quite literally yanked out of my thoughts when hands suddenly grabbed me and pulled be through the window, the bottom of my skirt ripping in the process. My eyes flickered to the concerned and confused looks of the doctors. Oh. They must have heard my mutter.

"I'm…I'm sorry." I began to tear up and eventually cry. This was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I pass out twice. I'm stuck in a doomed city surrounded my doomed people, so close to the doom date. I just want my brother. I just want to escape from whatever is happening right now.

Law's father patted me on my back, rubbing circles into my spine to calm me down. Eventually I did, a few sniffles still escaping me. "Are you calm now?" he asked.

I nodded my head in response wiping away my tear streaks. He gave me a gentle smile and asked me some questions. I answered accordingly. The next few moments passed so swiftly, I wasn't sure whether they had happened or not. He cleaned my head wound, and disinfected it, wrapping a bandage around it. He cleaned my other scrapes and put bandages of those. After asking some questions about the strange thing I said, which I refused to answer, he gave me some advice which I nodded at. I wasn't really paying attention to him though. I was more focused on the boy staring intensely at me, the hand of his little sister gripped in his. Law and Lami. Two children who will experience immense pain soon.

The snapping of fingers snapped me out of my state. "Excuse me dear. Where are your parents? I must discuss the medical bill with them. Health care isn't cheap after all." He lightly joked.

"I don't have any parents." I answered, forcing my face and voice into a saddened expression. Y'know. Like a normal person.

I did have parents, just not of this world that I was currently trapped in. A world in which I still wasn't sure was elaborate dream induced by some sort of drug being injected into my body on the outside of my mindscape.

The doctor looked sad. "Do you have any other guardian that could possible assist? It's only 20 beli."

I shook my head. "Sorry. No living relatives. The only thing I own are the clothes on my back." I twiddled my thumbs and hung my head.

Dr. Trafalgar was about to say something to me when he was interrupted by Lami. The auburn-haired girl had rushed up to him and began pulling on his coat. "Are you done yet? I want to go to the festival." She whined, as he began pulling him away. The chair the doctor was sitting in rolling away.

The man gave me an apologetic stare and I just smiled. "It's okay. Really. I…guess I'll stay here or something. Until I can figure out a way to pay you. It's…not like I have any place to go." I say, slightly pained to look convincing.

A frown formed on his face before a smile crossed it. "I know how you can pay me. Coming with my family and I to the festival."

"What?" Law, Lami and I exclaimed at the same time. Our tones where very different however. I protested. Lami squealed with happiness. Law was filled with confusion. I mentally narrowed my eyes at him. Why did he keep staring at me as if I was a subject under some sort of examination table?

I stood up. "Why? You don't even know me. I could be a killer for all you know."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You're not a killer. You're my patient. And it's a doctor's job to stick with their patient until they are 100% better. I can tell you've been through a lot the past couple of minutes. And you're still frazzled. I figured some nice food and games would help." he explained, handing me my Mary Jane's.

"Thank you. But on one condition. Your family also has to say yes…I don't want to impose…." I slipped my feet back into my shoes.

The doctor turned his head back to his family, who all but nodded. Well save for Law, who just seemed to be staring at me with curiosity.

"Well then. Let's go Miss…I'm sorry, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Doctor Trafalgar [ REDACTED]. "

I halted my steps and blinked at him asking him to repeat his name. He adjusted his glasses and repeated his name. Fuzz and static. Odd. It must be the cause that in the anime we never know his actual name. That or it is of no use to me that I know his name because he is going to die. Going by that logic, wouldn't that make Lami's name redacted?

"Nice to meet you." I simply said as he led me to the other members of his family.

"This is my wife Doctor [ REDACTED], my son Law and my daughter Lami." he stretched a hand at each member of his family.

I nodded, giving my hellos. I guess the latter theory wasn't it.

"So…what's your name." Law asks arms crossed an eye brow raised.

Before I could answer, I felt my body being pushed out the door, squeezed in between the frames with the other people surrounding me.

"You can ask her name later. Let's go! Let's go!" Lami shouted as she crawled beneath our legs and out the door, dashing down the hallway.

The other members chuckled at Lami's antics and followed as she sped down the stairs. Completely foregoing the elevator, I didn't have it in me to run. In fact, all I got was a sense of dread, knowing what eventually would happen. Law pulled me ahead.

"Let's go Miss-ya" he smiled gently, noticing my distress.

As I was led outside, I gaped. Everything really was white. The plants. The buildings. The rocks. It was as if I had stepped into a snowy fairy tale. The Trafalgar family stood on the side lines, Lami on Mr. Trafalgar's shoulders as the watched all the marchers march down the street. Loud music blaring from trumpets and horns. Drummers banged their sticks on their percussion instruments, each beat resonating with your heart. Confetti sprinkled the air, crisp wind blowing it about the place. Strips of it catching the occasional citizen's hair. Children ran around playing games with each other, becoming tired quickly and their parents buying ice cream cones for them.

Looking at all of this, I mentally shook my head. Even if everything was about to be destroyed, it would be an absolute waste not to enjoy what was here now.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful in my life! Thank you for me inviting me. Trafalgar-shi! "I grinned at him.

"You're quite welcome. Let's have some fun why don't we."

I gave a nod of approval and joined in the festivities. Despite my initial cheerful demeanor, my mind was counting down the seconds till the bodies began to hit the floor. My stomach lurched each time the hour hand on the Clock Tower leaned towards another number. My palms became sweaty as my discomfort began to resurface.

Law gently shook my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Oi. Are you alright? Do you want me to call otosan?"

"N-no. I'm fine." I chuckled nervously, rubbing a hand in my hair that felt silkier than its usual rough dry texture.

Feedback from the Microphone Snail caused everyone in the vicinity to wince. The speaker apologizing. "G-gomenosai! My name is [ REDACTED] and welcome to Flevance's 32rd Annual White City Festival. According to a general survey from the citizens, the mayor has decided to add a free for all concert. It is held in the square. Anyone who has any musical talent can pick a number from the box. When it is their turn, they'll get a chance so strut their stuff!"

The citizens cheered, and my attention was caught. Law turned towards me and saw my intrigued expression, asking if I wanted to participate. I shook my head in protest way too quickly to be believable. Thus, the result was Law and Lami dragging me towards the town square and forcing my hand in the box. I was number thirty-two. Perfect.

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.

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"I-I can't do this! I've never performed publicly before!" I stuttered when it was my turn.

It was true. I've never sung in front of more than ten people. They were usually just for my family and close friends. I was way too nervous to perform in front of strangers. My stomach would twist, and I would be so scared. The very few times I stood in the front of the ground, I became a brick that would eventually crack under pressure.

"I believe in you Miss-san!" Lami smiled at me.

I looked at Mr. and Mrs. Trafalgar who smiled and nodded at me. Feeling encouraged, I grabbed one of the guitars they hand on the stands and showed them my card. The security guard nodded and led me to the front of the stage where a Microphone Snail stood on a stand.

"H-hi! "I gave a small wave to the crowd, who I felt had their gaze on me for too long. "I-I'm very nervous and um this is my first time performing in the front of a huge crowd. So, uh enjoy I guess?"

I let out a breath and tuned the guitar, strumming it a few times to make sure none of the notes were off. I wasn't sure what to sing to be completely honest. I was too nervous. I should have protested. Regardless of how I felt, my brain gave the instruction for my fingers to start playing. As soon as I heard the first few sets of notes, I realized what song I had begun to play. Warrior by Aurora

"I _fall asleep in my own tears, I cry for the world for everyone. And I built a boat to float in I'm floating away."_ I began shakily.

"I _can't recall the last time I opened my eyes to see the world as beautiful. And I built a cage to hide in I'm hiding. I'm trying to battle the night"_ My voice steadied.

" _Let love conquer your mind. Warrior Warrior. Just reach out for the light. Warrior Warrior. I am a warrior, warrior warrior I am warrior, warrior of love."_

During the brief pause, I heard a few isolated claps coming from the crowd. It did little to encourage me but a little goes a long way right?

" _I stand behind the wall of people and thoughts mind controlling. And I hold a sword to guide me I'm fighting my way. I can't recall the last time I opened my eyes to see the world as beautiful. And I built a cage to hide in I'm hiding I'm trying to battle the night."_

"Let _love conquer you mind. Warrior Warrior. Just reach out for the light. Warrior Warrior. I am a warrior, warrior warrior I am a warrior, warrior of love. Underneath darkened skies, there's a lamp kept alight."_

" _Let love conquer your mind. Warrior warrior. Just reach out for the light. I am a warrior, warrior warrior I am a warrior, warrior warrior of love. Warrior of love Warrior of love."_

By the time I had finished signing, I somehow got the crowd to sing the chorus as well before they eventually faded out. I received a huge rousing around of applause as I left the stage, Lami coming up to hug me.

"You did great! Miss-san!" she giggled.

"I didn't you could sing so well." Mrs. Trafalgar smiled at me.

I blushed, putting a hand behind my back sheepishly. It really wasn't all that. I looked to Law.

"Hey Law. No matter what happens. Just remember to stay strong like a warrior. And remember the love everyone has for you." I said to him, hoping that in the next few days he might remember my words and not become so…rotten.

As expected, he looked at me with a confused expression, shrugging off my weird advice. Suddenly, Lami began wincing in pain as he dropped, Mr. Trafalgar catching her. My head lowered, eyes darkening.

It had begun.

Bodies were dropping to the ground like flies. White blotches covering their skin. People began vomiting and others were crying in agony, clawing at their skin until it bled. I at once ran to the hospital as fast as I could along with the Trafalgar's. I slammed into women and bounced off boys. Somewhere in the rush, I lost one of my shoes. But I didn't go back. It was just my luck that I lost the family in fray. Still, the current of people swarming to the hospitals led me to my destination.

I expected the hospitals to be packed but the reality was a lot worse. People were being trampled as they tried to squeeze past the metal gaze that began to creak at the weight of people. The courtyard was jammed pack with parents trying to get their children medical attention only to fall dead. I winced at all the people involuntarily touching me. It was obvious from the get go that I couldn't enter from the front. I sprinted around the back. I tossed the guitar that I didn't realize I was still holding to the ground and climbed the tree. Leaping down from the branch, I scrapped my knee, tearing my thigh highs in the process but I didn't care. I grabbed a rock and shattered the window, sticking my hand in and opening it from the outside. Sliding the window across I climbed inside the hospital.

It was a nightmare, gurneys were stacked with bodies as doctors and nurses ran about the halls in a frenzy, rolling medical equipment around. Papers fluttered about the place and I nearly slipped on them. I ran up the stairs, nearly tripping as I tried to remember which floor Dr. Trafalgar's office was located. I had jumped out the window and into a bush. What I had failed to notice earlier was that the bush was actually the top of a very dense tree. Speeding down the halls, I kept an eye out for any signs of the room I wanted. At the very end of the hall was Law rushing into a room, towels in his hand.

"Ah!" I exclaimed as I slid up to the door. I knocked and opened the door. "Excuse me….is this- "

My question was interrupted by Law. "Miss-ya, thank goodness you're here. We need all the hands we can get. He yanked me into the room and explained the situation. I didn't tell him I already knew what was going on. I pretended to look as shocked and scared as I possibly could.

"…is it contagious? I'm…not from Flevance…so any bacteria or viruses native to the country…" I backed away slowly, like a person without knowledge of future events would.

"No, it isn't." Law assured me coming closer. "It's hereditary, passed through blood lines. So, you're safe."

"Then. I'll help anyway I could! I haven't met you for long. But you've done so much for me. I can't watch and let you guys suffer. Think of my help as me paying for the hospital bill." I lightly joked.

This caused Mr. Trafalgar to cry out in gratitude. "Thank you so much. "

I shook my head. "There is no need. I'll do anything for the greatest doctor in the world." I looked at Law as I said this. We all know Chopper is the greatest, but I digress.

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The next few days were me watching Lami progressively get sicker and sicker. Her eyes were bloodshot, under was deep dark and sunken. More than half of her skin had turned milk white, as if she decided to go swimming in a pool of grade A bleach. Her body was wracked with pain, shallow breaths escaping her mouth as she tried to battle fever.

Law's skin turned whiter too, but not as fast as Lami's. Their parents showed signs of the illness as well, hair already turning white. Being surrounded by so much death, sickness and grief was starting to drive me insane. I couldn't take this anymore. Judging by the way Law's eyes began to dull ever so slightly day by day…he had already begun to turn spiteful. Yet, he kept a calm demeanor in the front of his sister, smiling to make her think that he was alright.

An agitated grunt escaped Dr. Trafalgar. For the past few days, he had been trying to call the World Government Headquarters for help to no avail. They refused to assist them, ignoring the fact that the disease was not contagious. The man sighed, cleaning his glasses on his dirty lab coat.

"Ignored again?" Mrs. Trafalgar went over to her husband and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He nodded solemnly before a long bang startled all of us. I ran to the window and gasped loudly. Hundreds of people had begun climbing the fences that the outside countries at put up. But on the other side of the fences where soldiers shooting everyone dead. Bombs flew everywhere, lighting the buildings on fire. A war had broken out.

I whipped around at the smashing of glasses and breaking of doors. Law's parents went outside to see what the matter was. It was then that fearing the worst, Law hid Lami inside the cabinet. Without even him asking me, I opted to stay in the cabinet with her. It was big enough for the both of us. Law gave me a nod of gratitude and closed us in, his footsteps in the abandoned hospital becoming fainter and fainter.

I felt Lami grip onto my vest and start crying. "I'm scared Miss-san! I don't want to die." She sobbed,

"Shush shush. It's okay. I'll protect you. Law's gonna come back to us." I sweetly lied to her.

Thin slivers of light seeped through the tiny slits between the cabinets. I couldn't see out of them and I didn't dare open it. I leaned back on some boxes, allowing her to lay on top of me and I gently rubbed her head, singing a lullaby.

" _Let's go to the garden, you'll find something waiting. Right there where you left it, lying upside down. When you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded. The underside is lighter when you turn it around. Everything stays. Right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes. Every so slightly, daily and nightly, in little ways, when everything stays…"_

I could soon here her faint shallow breaths. I wrapped her close in my arms, silently promising to protect her as best as I could. Whatever happened in the anime, I refused to allow it to happen now. Not while I had a chance to do something about it. I had long ago tossed away the thought that I was dreaming. Each passing day was becoming way too real for me. The screams, the gunshots. I could never imagine something as horrific as this, even with the help of foreign substances entering my body.

I didn't know I had fallen asleep, just that at some point my eyes became heavy and my arms slid down to my sides. A smoky pungent smell had awoken me. A smelly smell a smell as if something was being cooked. The inside of the cabinet was warmer than usual, the light streaming in more orange than usual.

Oh no.

"Lami! We have to get out of here now!" I shouted as I grabbed the young girl and jumped out the cabinet to be met with the room completely on fire. Flames licked and danced at the curtains and bed sheet, turning them into ashes. I coughed, my eyes watering at the heavy fumes produced. I pressed Lami's head a bit closer into my chest before trying to find the exit. I ran to the door, luckily the knob wasn't hot. I opened the door and dashed in the burning hallway just as the room completely burst into flames. There must have been a busted oxygen tank leaking out the gas, given the deafening noise and blinding light.

Lami screamed and cried, gripping on to me tighter. I had no time to comfort her, running through the collapsing building as I tried to find an exit that wasn't consumed by flames. It was so hot I began sweating, my grip on Lami slipping every now and then. Soon I had begun to slow down, a sharp pain stabbing me through the head as if it was being squeezed with a vice. I was taking too long to find an exit. If I didn't hurry up, the two of us would suffocate to death.

Suddenly, all the rooms started to burst into flames, as if it was a chain reaction, each explosion setting off another. Beams started to collapse, floors and ceilings caving in, trying to suck us under and sear our flesh off. I had no other choice. I ran towards the nearest window, speed accelerating and jumped through Lami screaming all the while.

Adrenaline was pumping through my body at this time, so I didn't even so much as wince as the shattered glass cut through my skin. Midair, I remembered my grave mistake. I had forgotten that we were on the fourth floor. Time slowed down. I turned, making sure my body would be the one to collide with the ground first and Lami on top of me. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Law kneeling in the front of the gate, bawling his eyes out, having a mental breakdown, because he thought Lami was dead.

"LAW!" I screamed as loud as I could. "LAW! DON' T CRY! WE"RE HERE! WE'RE HE- "My cry was abruptly cut off as my body contacted the gate. I screamed in agony as the hot iron bars burned my left arm and the left side of my face. I slid to the ground, battling pain induced unconsciousness. I had to find a way out of here.

I limped over to the front of the gate, shoving my back against it to open it. My vest caught on fire and I briefly put Lami down to through it off. I picked her back up and made my way to the border, in the time that it took me to limp to the entrance, Law had already left. Great.

What was also great, but in the more positive sense was there were no guards there trying to shoot anyone down. I asked Lami to grip on to me as tightly as she could. She wrapped her arms around me completely and I was surprised she still had the strength to do so given the amount of stress that her body was undergoing. I gripped the fence and began to climb when I noticed the glint of a shot gun barrel pointing at me. No. I leapt over as fast as I could and began to run. I wasn't fast enough. Or rather, foolish enough to believe that I could escape. A bullet embedded itself to my shoulder, causing me to collapse and scream out in pain. It was indescribable. My body fell on top of Lami's smothering her cries.

I heard the crunching of the ground beneath the officer's boots get louder and louder before it was right next to my head. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. The smoke was finally taking a toll on me. I could feel my grip on reality loosening as my body became heav-was suddenly kicked to the side. I rolled a few feet before stopping, wincing at the pebbles, dirt and rocks that made its way into my burnt flesh. Oh man were these going to scar. I watched helplessly as the soldier slammed his foot into Lami's back…and shoot her in the head. My eyes widened but I couldn't find it in me to scream, only the image being burnt into my memory forever. Tears flooded my vision. Despite all what I went through to save her, she still dies. Despite my efforts…I couldn't even finish the thought.

The barrel was pointing at me now. I didn't want to die.

"P-please…I'm not…not even from here…I don't have Amber Lead…I don't…." I weakly cried.

The soldier grunted at me. The soldier aimed at me. The soldier cursed. The gun was empty. Instead, he came closer and kicked in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, blood escaping my mouth as I rolled backwards. He came closer and gave me only what I could describe as the beat down of a lifetime. The soldier walked away as soon as he finished beating me up, my breaths so far and few in between he thought I was dead. As a test, he rolled me until my back was facing him and dug his fingers in my shoulder wound to pull out the lead the bullet. I bit my lip to prevent myself from letting out a pained whimper and once he left,

Making sure that no one else was here, I slowly got up, trying not to vomit, and crawled away. My mind was dull, so when I saw the mound of dead bodies, I wasn't fazed. My body swayed, weak from the blood loss and I toppled on top of the bodies. I assumed the stench would be unbearable, but I couldn't really smell much of anything. Or see. Or hear. Or feel. My senses had been muted. The world was reduced to colors and blurry shapes and muffled sounds. I didn't want to close my eyes in fear that I would never open them again. But at this point, I didn't have a choice in the matter as my eyes slunk downwards.

.

.

.

I woke with a loud gasp and a scream, scrambling my way out of the arms and legs that entangled me. Big mistake. I lurched forward as it took everything in me not to grip at my burnt arm and face. Everything in my body ached. So sensitive I swore I could feel my veins and arteries pumping blood through my body. Fully aware of the atrocious scent surrounding me, I vomited, body painfully wracked with dry heaves.

After my stomach settled, shakily, I stood up making my way towards the scrap heap agonizingly slow. Wherever there were mountains of scrap metal. There was the current base of the Donquioxte Pirates. Though, along my journey, I contemplated whether it was worth going to them. I was only going to get my ass kicked my Cora-san even though it was for protection. I didn't have the resolve nor the hate that Law would have had by this point. It's not like I could prevent any of the future events from happening. Even if I intervened, it would end up the exact same way. This wasn't a fanfiction. This was real. Still, I needed somewhere to sleep. Someplace to eat. And the only place in a hundred miles was this accursed pirate crew.

Several hours passed before my agonizing crawl over mountains of scrap metal ended. I prayed to the heavens that tetanus didn't exist in the universe. Otherwise, I would be in serious problems down the line. It was quite ironic that the metal induced disease that surrounded me was the same disease I just so happened to miss a shot for.

I knelt at the stairs leading up to the door of the building and grimaced. I had developed a distaste for the jagged inclined plane recently. Regardless, I gripped at the rail with my good arm and hoisted myself upwards. Sluggishly put one foot in front of the other. And there were three sets? Good grief. Nonetheless I climbed the steps anyway. Along the path, I stopped, the most random yet sensible question crossing my mind.

 _Shouldn't I be dead_

I had been inhaling smoke and fumes like a line of cocaine. I was sliced by glass. I was beaten silly. Half my face and my arm had been burnt. My wounds were still more or less still open yet I'm semi casually climbing three flights of stairs. I was sure that as soon as I opened that door, I would meet a giant hand grabbing my face and tossing me 50 meters in the air. Well, considering I'm in the world of One Piece -the thought of this being a drug induced dream already tossed away- I guess my body had strengthen to adapt to the brutal punishment this world offered.

Before I knew it, I was at the top of the stair case. I braced myself, forcing my face to turn into the most hate filled glare I could muster….it cracked after two seconds. I couldn't do this so I second for second best. A face that seemed more natural. My resting face. I was told that when I had my resting face, I looked like I wanted to murder somebody. So, it should suffice. I hung my head down, so that my hair would cast a dark shadow over my face.

I opened the door and all heads turned towards me. The pirates were eating, Law standing at the end of the table. I remembered this scene from the anime. It seemed by this time, he had already been accepted into the crew, judging by the amused look on Doflamingo's face.

"Oi. Who the hell are you?! "Diamante shouted at me, his ribbon sword swerving around the table, the tip pointing at my throat.

Somehow, I managed not to flinch. Instead, intensify my glare, a low growl escaping my throat.

"I asked again. Who the hell are you?! Answer me before I slice you to pieces." He shouted, standing up, knocking his chair backwards. Mackvise put a hand to his shoulder, trying to calm the irritated gladiator down.

I sighed and raised my non-burnt hand and pushed the tip of his blade away. "A girl who should be dead." I lifted my head up to show my eyes, sharp and glaring.

"Then go die then." Baby5 snickered, I directed a nasty glare towards her that caused her to cry.

"What the hell are you doing here? I thought you burnt to death in that hospital with Lami. If you're here, where is she?" Law whipped around a demanding tone in his voice.

"One shot with a head shot." I clenched my fists

"I see…" he was barely restraining his anger, teeth clenching together.

"Law. Who is this girl you seem like you know her." The pink feathered man directed his fork at me.

"A girl that messed up badly." He glared at me.

My glare didn't falter as I stepped closer inside, slamming the door behind me.

"Hmmm I see. Why are you here? Little girl." He sliced through his steak, putting a piece in his mouth, chewing it slowly before he swallowed.

"I'm 18." If this was an anime, a sweat drop would be hanging from my head.

"Wow. You're short-desayan!" Buffalo laughed at me.

"And so, will be your life expectancy if you make fun of my height again- _desayan!"_ I mocked his ending phrase with a threatening tone, spooking him.

Doflamingo chuckled, "Such guts to threaten a member of my family. So, tell me. What do you want?" His voice was smooth and calm like a father to a longing child. Disgusting.

I took a moment to think about what I wanted to say. I couldn't repeat Law's speech. I wouldn't be able to pull if off. Besides, I don't think they would accept that since they had already heard it.

"I want to join your crew." was my short answer as I gripped my chest. I mentally widened my eyes at what was in my breast pocket. This would be my ticket in.

"Why should I choose for you to be in my crew?" he titled his head, curious

"Because your crew already chose me." I answered, a grin on my face as I pulled the pendant out of my breast pocket, the chain with the Donquioxte emblem swinging slightly back and forth in my grip.

I could see a vein pulse in Doflamingo's fore head. "Where did you get that? I don't remember any thing being created with my Jolly Rodger on it."

"Found it in my attic." I tossed the pendant at the pink pirate.

He twirled it in his fingers before tossing it back at me. "I'm intrigued. What exactly do you have to offer me?"

"Kindness." I answered.

Everyone laughed at me. "Kindness has no place in this crew!" Giolla laughed,

I laughed as well. "Oh. You're sorely mistaken. Think about it, Ms. Giolla. A young woman innocent enough yes? Making 'friends' with the enemy. My 'kindness' winning over their hearts. I get into their houses. I get into their safes. Steal their money. Blow the place up from the inside. Imagine their horrified places when they realize that their angel is a demon. I can't imagine such a knowledgeable set of individuals you never heard the term. "Kill 'em with Kindness. Sure this type of thing would be a long term assignment but I am _very_ patient "

I put a hand on my waist. " Quick operation? Put me in a pair of pumps. 18 to 28 quick. Do you know how many rich _politically important_ men there are looking for a quick one-night stand with some hot chick? Nice chat at the bar yeah? Lace the drink. Woo the information right out."

I put a more serious look on my face. "I realize not everyone can be swayed with words. There'll be gun fights and sword fight a plenty. If I'm gonna be completely honest. I'm not full of hate or disgust. I wouldn't be able to kill a person in cold blood. It's not in my nature. But I can live with manipulation. Playing with people as if they were putty in my hands. Leading them to their deaths. And they are blind to it."

I let out a breath a dull expression on my face. "You're probably think I'm spewing a load of crap. You don't want me? Understandable. Joining this crew will give me a one-way ticket to hell anyway. If that's the case, then I want to drag as many people I can down with me. If not…I want my life to have meaning. And what better way to do that is a lowly plebian as I…. _serving royalty."_

The oldest crew members stiffened.

"I can sense it around you…Mr. Doflamingo. A powerful aura. One worthy of a King. A King that deserves to have what he wants when he wants and how he wants it. A king who should have the world bowing down before him…I want to see you reach that."

I paused, letting my words stew in. Their faces were otherwise neutral, making it hard for me to gauge whether they would accept me. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Law giving me a hate filled glare. It was probably because I was the one who survived while his sister didn't. Plus, my speech about manipulating people might have added fuel to the ever-growing flames. Perfect.

"Put it on." Doflamingo suddenly instructed me. "The pendant. It has my Jolly Rodger on it. Making it mine. It chose you. Making you mine as well."

I forced a grateful smile on my lips. I put in on, bowing into a curtesy. "Thank you…milord." I added to boost his ego.

This action caused Doflamingo to laugh aloud, slamming his fist on the table. "I can see you will make this crew prosper."

I blushed sheepishly, putting my hand behind my head. "Aw shucks."

Suddenly, a hand was on my head and I turned to see Corazon, that 10 ft giant of a man hovering above me. He lifted me up and I found myself flying through glass, soaring through the air for several seconds before roughly landing in a pile of pipes. Sweet Mother of Pearl. That hurt. It took several minutes for me to muster the strength to pick myself up from the ground. Surprisingly, none of my bones had been broken in the collision. Still, I limped back up the steps and pushed the door open.

" Oh look. She's not dead!" Baby 5 laughed at me once I opened the door again.

"My my! What a strong arm you have! Impressive!" I clapped my hands, ignoring the child "I flew so far! "

"Ne ne! You brought in a crazy one you did, Doffy! She's the total opposite of Law! So opposite that if it wasn't for the fact that they looked the same! I never would have guessed that they were siblings!" Trebol clapped his hands, snot dripping down his nose.

"We're not." Both Law and I answered at the same time. The slime must not have heard when Law called me out for messing up.

"What?! You two look so much alike!" Trebol stepped back from his seat, pulling a very long mirror from out his body.

What I saw shocked me. Yes, by body was burnt and covered with bruises and scrapes. My socks were thin shreds. My skirt was ripped to half of its original length. My shirt was rumpled and messy, torn and covered in dirt and blood. The shocking part was that my hair was exact same shade of gold, streaked with brown as Law's eyes. My originally emerald green eyes had turned the dark blue of Law's hair. My skin a tad shade darker than his non-infected skin, though it was still lighter than my original tone.

"What?" I breathed incredulously. Why did my appearance change when I was being transported?

"Are you color blind? Our appearances are completely inversed." Law twitched his eye, as he stared in the mirror as well. He turned towards me "Though…judging by your height, I never would have thought you were 8 whole years older than me."

"Gee thanks." I deadpanned.

"So…what is your name?" Senor Pink asked me, letting out a puff of smoke from his cigarrete.

I was never going to give them my real name. I looked at Law and I looked at myself. It didn't take much thought for me to choose my name. My brother did say I have a sense of humor so awful it was great. Even though no one here would get the reference, I smiled crazily anyway as I skipped over to Doflamingo and whispered my name into his ear. He grinned.

I skipped back to where I previously stood, a smile stretching from ear to ear as Doflamingo stood up, slammed a foot on the table and raised a wine glass.

" My family….let us welcome the two new members of our crew Law and Order!"

 **There you have it. The first chapter of the rebooted chapter of Beating Heart, now called Useless but Try Anyway. Man…the very first time I wrote this, this chapter was between like 1,000-1,100 words. This is like 9,000+ without the beginning and end author's notes. Didn't even break a sweat. Now, the rest of the chapters probably won't be this long. This was just the setup. See you next chapter! Make sure to leave a review and don't forget to follow to be notified of the next update.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank You for the reviews! Make sure to leave more and follow!**

 **AbyssWyvern: I'm super excited to write this as well. I have so much things planned. It's going to be super exciting. At least I hope it comes off that way. I don't want to bore anybody XD**

 **Guest: I think it's well written too. You wouldn't believe how bad the original was XD. Remain curious and don't be afraid to ask those questions. I'd be more than happy to answer them if they aren't too spoilery.**

 **Ztk016: ….no negativity please…constructive criticism is appreciated however.**

 **Note: I can't write hateful people. I haven't elevated myself enough yet. So, Law won't be as hateful as he is in canon. He'll still have hate, but not to the degree he has in the anime.**

 **Enjoy!**

My success in joining the crew was short lived as the force that kept me from caving in on my injuries began to fade away. I clenched my teeth in pain, muscles tensing though that seemed to worsen the situation. Gladius noticed how my body began shaking and my increasing breaths. However, he didn't mention anything about it. This was either a test of endurance or I imagined in in a silent plea for help.

"Are you okay Order-san?" asked Baby 5 as she titled her head, shoving carrots into her mouth.

"…I may require medical assistance…" I wasn't sure when the words left my mouth. Everything was starting to become blurry, the corner of my vision slowly turning gray begore completely darkening.

My knees suddenly gave out beneath my and I collapsed to the ground. I used my arms to steady myself as I tried to push myself off the floor, but my elbows were starting to weaken. I started coughing, my body racking with dry coughs that clawed my throat dry. A wet gurgling sound came from my throat and I hacked up a glob of blood. Metal filled my mouth and invaded my nostrils.

"Hnngh…looks like the adrenaline is wearing off." I gave a grim chuckle with red stained teeth before completely falling out.

Geez. I really need to bolster my strength if I'm going to survive this world. I probably only survived this time due to Beginner's Luck. Given all what my body endured, I'm sure I used up the last of my reserve surviving the destruction of Flevance. Only the Luck of the Irish and the Luck of the Devil to take advantage of.

I opened my eyes, only to realize that they had already been open. In the front of me was nothing but darkness. A deep rick darkness that seemed to flow and warp the atmosphere with its thickness. I raised a hand to my face, but I couldn't see the even the faintest of outline of a single finger. If the nerves in my hand were damaged, and I had raised it in this place, I never would have known. I whipped my head back and forth, trying to find some smidgen of light in this black hole. As I moved, I found the sensation weird as if I was freefalling rather than standing on solid ground even though I knew the position of my body was upright.

A feeling unlike I've ever felt before crawled up my spine and I instantly classified it as something to be wary about before my brain had a chance to fully process it. Why wouldn't I be wary? I'm enveloped in near tangible darkness! Legs speeding up and trudging across the pudding like consistency of the space I was stuck in, I tried to escape the unknown source that shot me in my spine with *stealth freakies*. Alas, the faster I moved, the less ground I seemed to cover. At least that's what it felt like. The being that set me on edge crept closer, but I had run into a wall. I felt the wall, groping the surface for some sort of door knob. Another part of me asked me why I ever thought there would be a random door knob in the middle of nowhere much less a door for a door knob to be had. Slime slipped through my fingers causing bile to rise in my throat at the uncomfortable squelching feeling. Just…where the heck was I? I knew I had abstract dreams from time to time but at least they had some degree of sense and consistency, moving in chronological order while here…here it was as if my dream was short circuiting. Jumping from plot point to plot point without completing the previous. Heck! Even the setting wasn't complete. Though, judging from the slime climbing to my knee and the giant claw of the being grasping at my neck, I would assume this was my once in a blue moon nightmare. The timing was ironic considering how I literally just lived through a walking nightmare. The trauma I'm sure I experienced must have blocked out some receptors in my brain that had the job of managing dreams. This was just a very off assumption though. I know nothing of trauma and dreams and brain injuries.

Now that the fingers of the being are digging through my throat and the slime at my waist, I'm surprised I'm not having a normal human reaction. Crying. Screaming. Thrashing. Any means out of this dreamscape. The original feeling, I had, the undetermined one, was now gone. Not strong enough to truly manifest into nothing more than an incomplete thought. I was filled with an unusual sense of calm, as if I knew I was going to leave this situation soon enough, like…I was aware that I was in a dream….eh. An interesting fact about me, was that I was never afraid of the unknown, the darkness and other things that go bump in the night. If I was left in the dark about its existence and capabilities, I was fine. Well, regarding the sleeping world. Not the living. Ignorance is bliss right? If the lights in my mind were on, and I could see the monster who teeth were sinking into my shoulder, I'm sure I would be petrified and try to yank away, quite possibly ripping off my dream shoulder in the process. I scratched at were the teeth dug in because it was itchy. I felt nothing, but the feeling was still there. So, this was an abstract dream and a hint of nightmare instigated by fever? I shook my head, wanting to wake up before I knew what was happening. Before I knew whether the best that dug its tail into my spine and the slime that was halfway up my chest was something to be feared or not.

The feeling that lingered in my spine finally began to ebb away as the darkness seemed to lift. Either I was waking up or my brain was rebooting and those at Dreamscape Central were fixing the glitches in my dream processor. My eyes opened again, the world blurry at first, but soon clearing as I stared into a par of dull gold eyes; the flecks of amber no longer sparkling like the light was snuffed out.

"…Law…?" I groaned, squinting at the light pouring directly into my pupil, only the right side of my face seemed to register it.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, a serious tone in his voice as he raised his left hand.

I looked at the fingers and knew exactly how many he was holding up, but I couldn't seem to say the number. My head was hurting way too much to search my mental files for Numbers 1-10. I was hot. Uncomfortably hot. Burning hot around my face and neck but my fingertips were ice cold. And I was cold. Freezing cold. But I was hot.

"…Law…do I have a fever?" I asked, trying to make a sense of where I was. I knew I was laying down in some sort of bed but at the same time my brain refused to process it.

He didn't answer me. Merely scoffed, jumping off the chair he was sitting on with a huff. I heard a door slam and the muffled noise of a conversation. As this was happening, I scrolled my eyes about to see where the heck I was. However, I had limited range in my vision, only able to see the area where Law previously sat and then some. My body was confined to laying on my back, unable to roll about. I hated laying on my back. The door opened again, and a swirl of pink feathers entered my vision. Doflamingo.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, a slight frown on his face.

"…Like I was slap chopped through time and space..." I groaned, just now realizing how much my body ached and throbbed. And the way the world warped around me. I felt like I was flying, soaring through the air at dizzying breakneck speeds while at the same time, the weight of every bad decision I ever made sitting in my stomach like a stone.

This pulled a little chuckle out of Doflamingo. "What an interesting description of major blood loss, bacterial infection and the flu."

…did he say the flu? That was another major shot that I had missed. Doflamingo must have noticed my expression, which I hope was displayed as miffed. I couldn't feel half of my face.

"You look irate. Something on you mind?" he pointed an index finger towards his cranium.

I managed to turn my head towards him and gave him a glance, though I'm not sure which emotion it conveyed. "…I curse my past self." I coughed.

This drew out another chuckle. "Do not worry. The worst of the symptoms have passed. You are in the recovery stage."

I blinked at him. "How long was I out Mister Doflamingo." I put my act back on for him.

He shuffled slightly at being called that, perhaps using 'shi' might lessen the effect. Though, it didn't seem like an uncomfortable shuffle. Rather, the shuffle of someone pleased at being noticed as an authority figure.

"About three days." He answered casually, unknowing stirring my irritation towards that particular time span.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, slightly concerned as his lips pulled downwards.

"It is nothing Mister Doflamingo." I gave a sheepish smile. "Just a silly little notion that figures such as yourself shouldn't bother with."

"Hmm. Very well then. I wish a speedy recovery. The other family members wish to know you better. They've never seen quite a character like you. It is mainly arrogant, sarcastic people that feel they can getaway with anything that they like. Barging in with smug smirks as they wave about what makes them so special when in reality it's a masked used to hide how pathetic they are." Doflamingo sounded genuinely annoyed, a vein bulging in his forehead.

"…are you speaking about those that tried to join your crew? For some reason I can't help but feel personally attacked. I know for certain that I may have pranced about like a know-it-all." I asked, giving a bit of commentary.

"You catch on quite quickly. But I do not mean to attack you. While you did come off as slightly arrogant, you admitted your weakness and showed you were more than willing to listen to orders. Something that a truly arrogant person will not do. You repented the same time you sinned."

I gave a nod. "Thank you. Mister Doflamingo."

"Please. You're a part of the family. Call me Doffy." The future Warlord put a hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head. "No thank you. I do not fell like a part of the family and wish to remain on formal terms. Respectful to my superiors if you will. Perhaps if I become more comfortable around the other members and yourself, I may take you up on your offer. Only if you wish…milord."

"Do what you must. Just be mindful of your current position." Doflamingo answered, give a trace of a warning that I immediately plucked out.

I nodded my head. "Thank you. Mister Doflamingo." I felt my eyes flutter, becoming laced with tiredness. Doflamingo must have noticed the receding of my consciousness because he had called Law.

The boy entered, a grump expression souring even more as he looked at me. Crisp noises became muffled ones as I managed to pick out a few phrases. None of which were important to me.

"….and…. Order…. not the same as…" Law gave Doflamingo what I assumed to be a report of my health.

Doflamingo simply nodded, eyeing me several times, silent for the first time since he entered. Eventually, I couldn't keep up and drifted into a light sleep. For five seconds. A harsh slap was delivered to my arm and I jolted awake, alarmed for several seconds before slipping to my previous state. I turned my head to look at the person who hit me and white and black leopard print hat was in my vision.

"Here. This will finally kill off the bacteria." Law held his hand outstretched. In one was a glass of water and in the other was a napkin. Sitting in the napkin were three pills. One was small and circular and red. Another was long and ovular and white. The last one was a small yellow rounded rectangle.

I scrunched up my face. By the milky way I hated taking medication. Especially pills. The way the corners scraped against my throat and the felling of a stone sitting in my chest were sensations I did not particularly enjoy. They smelt awful, making the bile rise in the back of my throat. And the way some of them dissolved. I mentally shuddered, though I'm sure some of it was transmitted into the physical realm.

"Looks like we have one of _those_ patients." Law looked at me in annoyance, birthing a long deep sigh, he said "do not have time to, nor will I fight you." He gave a quick nod.

This must have been some sort of que for a conversation I wasn't present for. Doflamingo roughly sat me up, wrapping me tightly in strings. My eyes widened as I realized what they were going to do. Against my better judgement, I began to struggle, trying to break free from the cords. I gave grunts of complaint, firmly locking my mouth shut.

"Resistance is futile." Law climbed on top of the bed, spandex gloves covering his hands. He crept closer to my face and tried to pry my jaws apart. He forced his thumbs into my mouth, jaws opening against my will to let the foreign object into my mouth. I felt something thing rubbing against my cheek and I realized Doflamingo was using his devil fruit to pry my jaws further.

I looked at him with a pleading expression. I had to time to intensify the glare before the pills and water were roughly shoved down my throat. I had no choice but to swallow lest I choke. After the pills made it's way down and my body was released, relief washed over my skin as I noticed thin red lines.

"Was that…really…necessary Law? Mister Doflamingo." I pounded my fist with my chest.

I didn't receive an answer. One huffed while the other made no noise.

"Sleep." Law demanded as they light flicked off and the door shut behind him and Doflamingo.

I blinked in the darkness, coughing once more begore they died down completely. I sunk back into the covers, my aching body craving for me to slide into a more comfortable position. On my left-ow! I winced as I hastily rolled to my right side. I gripped at my left arm and noticed it was covered in bandages. Oh yeah. It was burnt on that gate along with some of my face. Oh…those will most definitely scar. I sighed, snuggling further into the sheets, trying to get as comfortable as I could without further irritating my wounds. Forcing those pills had fully awakened me and now all the thoughts I had previously stuffed down was bubbling to the surface. I tried to stuff them down. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to thing of the dead people and the destroyed buildings and the selfishness of the World Government and how I failed Lami. I left Law without the last member of his family and he hated me.

I understood though and didn't blame the 10-year-old at all. I'd be pissed too if I left him in charge of Yanai and he came out of a burning building without my little brother. Speaking of, I missed him. I wondered what he was doing now. I sighed again, pretending to sleep in order to force myself to actually fall asleep. Soon, I found my eyes fluttering again as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

.

.

.

.

"I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" I shouted, bolting upright as clumps of gold hair fell down in my face. My quickened breaths slowed down as I looked about the room, remembering where I was.

I flopped back with a groan, resting the back of my bandaged hand on my forehead. Thumps increasing in volume infiltrated my hearing range. The knob turned, door creaking as Law pushed himself inside. Baby 5 and Doflamingo trailed behind him, the former holding a tray. On it were bread, soup, a glass of water and a syringe next to a bottle of clear fluids.

"Glad to see that you're up." Doflamingo gave a low chuckle that I did not like in the slightest, even though I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it. In his eyes, I'm a part of his family. He would never hurt his family, unless I betrayed them. Like the case with Corazon. I mentally frowned. I failed Lami, but I will not fail Cora-san.

"Thank you. Mister Doflamingo."

"Did you sleep well? I heard shouting…" Doflamingo frowned slightly, letting his sentence trail, obviously expecting me to complete the thought.

" ..not quite. But it's fine. Really. Just a silly little dream is all. "I answered, fibbing a little

"Hmm. And what did you dream about?" Doflamingo asked, sitting on the bed and crossing his hairy legs.

"Why should I bother you with such trivial information milord?" I asked, titling my head and genuinely curious as to why he of all people would care.

"It can't be that simple if it made you scream that loudly." He replied, frown deepening.

"Oh." I blinked, I mentally facepalmed. Of course, he heard that. The time frame between the scream and thumps was way too small for him to not come up stairs at a sudden shout. I grinned sheepishly, waving my hand about. "Please do not be concerned Mister Doflamingo. I am perfectly-Hnngh!" I winced as something sharp pricked my skin.

I whipped my head to see Law injecting me with the clear fluid in the bottle. Judging by the color, and my experiences with hospitals not counting Flevance, I assumed it was some sort of antibiotic. I looked at Doflamingo with a quizzical expression.

"You had no need to make the effort to distract me Mister Doflamingo. I am not afraid of needles." I watched as Law pulled the needle out of my arm and properly dispose of it before cleaning the tiny puncture wound and plastering a band-aid on it.

"She should be set." Law told Doflamingo before looking at me, hate evident.

I turned my head slightly hurt even though I deserved. I gave a small smile still "Thank you."

The boy merely scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Stop that."

I tilted my head, curious as to what he was referring to. He seemed to like have read my mind because soon after, her said "Talking like that. Why are you talking like some…? some Noble?" he sounded disgusted with me. "You weren't speaking like that last night."

I blinked. " Last night was last night. Today is today. If you wish for me to stop speaking in such a manner then I will do so. Starting...now." Secretly I was relieved he had asked that question. I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to speak like that for long.

Law merely growled at me.

"I'm sure you are hungry and want a bath, so I sent Baby 5 to ask Giolla to prepare some food for you. Also, I took it upon myself to buy some clothes and basic toiletries for you. After this, you must buy your own things with your own money. We house a family of dangerous pirates. Not freeloaders." The pink feathered pirate handed a bag full of clothes and other things, gesturing to the soup that had now turned cold.

"I need you to heat that up when Order is ready." Doflamingo briefly turned to the raven-haired girl who squealed at being needed. She rapidly nodded her head and took the tray, rushing down the stairs.

"Due to the unexpected number of new recruits, namely you and Law, we don't have enough space. Therefore, until we expand the building, you two must share a room." Doflamingo looked between me and Law.

"WHAT _?!"_ Law shrieked angrily. "I'd rather lob off an arm than share a room with _her!_ He spat, venom dripping heavily from his voice.

"Stop being over dramatic." Doflamingo folded his arms, though he was quite amused at Law's actions.

I could tell Law didn't want to present himself as a whiny brat, so he bit off whatever else he had to say. "Fine."

I looked between the two before speaking up. "It's fine. He could sleep in here. I'll make do on the floor or crash on a couch. Heck! Give me the dining room table for all care. It wouldn't be the first time I've slept in a place that's not a bed."

"No." Doflamingo shot my proposition down. "You two WILL share this room. Whether you like it or not. We ae a family now and nothing good comes out of infighting. Whatever problem it is that you two have, I strongly suggest that you two solve t as you as possible. Your hesitance to tolerate each other will eventually become a liability in the face of battle. And it is one I'd rather avoid if I could help it. And I can. And will. Check yourselves before you wreck yourselves. Law, show Order to the bath." With that, he left the room, his coat of pink feathers flailing behind him.

The room was silent, the only sound was the rhythmic tick tock of the clock hanging from the wall. After a moment, the daggers Law was glaring in my back started to physically manifest, I dared to speak up.

"Can you show me- "

"Shut up." He instantly snapped with a hiss, cutting me off.

My mouth was sealed, and after another moment of unfathomable silence, he asked me, well more like demanded "Why are you acting this way? You were an asshole at dinner."

I blinked, confused as to what he was referring to until I remembered how much of a big shot I acted in the front of the pirates. "Because I had to put on a tough appearance, otherwise they wouldn't have let me in. I'm somewhat soft and Doflamingo seemed to be the type attracted to psychotic people. No offense."

"Why?"

"…I'm on a mission. Now please show me where I can be this grime off." I ended the conversation there, effectively angering Law.

"Are you gonna betray him? Bring him down? I'll report you immediately." Law threatened.

"No." I lied "It's a personal mission and I could only find what I want here. Why would I jeopardize myself by jeopardizing Doflamingo? I'll get what I want even if I have to pretend to be someone I'm not."

"How do I know you're not bullshitting me like you did at…" he grits his teeth and balled his fist, letting out an angry sigh "Whatever. You're a liar and an asshole and I hate you. If it wasn't for the Blood Law, and Doffy literally breathing down my neck, I would have let you die."

Nice to know.

My fingers curled around the back a little tighter, hurt at what he said to me. Of course, I had been told worse, but coming from a supposedly fictional character, made it all the more worse. This showed me just how _real_ he and the others are. They had their own thoughts, and feelings and ideas outside of what Oda had set in stone for them. It made me feel worse about Lami's death. The auburn-haired child probably had her own dreams and ambitions as well. Goals that she wanted to achieve will never be achieved. What once was a simple foil character to me was now a real human that I had aided in the death of. I may not have outright killed her, but Lami's blood was on my hands. Holding my hands in the front of me, I stared at them. Mine yet not mine. Light creamy colored skin replacing tan. I'm going to have t sit in the sun for a while to get my skin close to the color it was originally was.

This body didn't feel right. At first, I didn't notice but now I feel it. And it's an invasive feeling. Not that anyone was invading me, but rather I was the invader, which is utterly ridiculous. I let out a sigh and turned towards Law, who was sitting on the opposite end of the bed with his back towards me. His arms were folded, and it wouldn't take a genius to know that he was pouting angrily. My expression deepened, and I rose from the bed, walking in the front of him.

"What do you want?" he didn't look up at me.

Pursing my lips, I thought about what I wanted to say. I wanted to say that I was sorry, that I did my absolute best. That the display three days ago was not, is not and will never be me. It was just an act, a show to get in. To save you. To save Cora-san. I so badly wanted to reveal the truth. Of Corazon's undying love and Doflamingo's outright wickedness. Of the sacrifices Rocinante was willing to make all for his sake. But I couldn't. I had to hold on. There were several crucial events that needed to happen before the truth could begin to unravel. For three years, I will have to hold on, bite my tongue and remain silent. Pretend to remain oblivious about the corruption woven deep. Sighing the frustration through my nose, I said

"…I'd rather not wind up someplace I don't want to be at the wrong time. Please show me the bathroom and I swear to leave you be as best I could…"

It took a while for Law to respond to my request, wordlessly sliding off the bed before opening the door. With a single flick of his hand, he motioned for me to follow him as he left. With a single nod, clutching the bag of clothes, I followed him down the hallway. Various rooms were lined one after the other with a single room sitting at the end of the hall a golden knob on this one while silver knobs where on the other. It was obvious who this room belonged to. We took a right and stopped at a door that was slightly ajar. I didn't bother breaking the silence to thank him, knowing he would only find annoyance in the gesture and the fact that he had already left. Turning back towards the bathroom door, I pushed it open and raised an eyebrow, surprised out how…normal it seemed. I was expecting something old and rickety like a wooden tub given the state of this place. Or something grand because while on the outside this place looked like a rundown shack on the inside it was fairly nice. Plus, Doflamingo seemed like he was a little bit extra. Actually, I didn't know what to expect. On the back wall was the tub, faucet and shower head. A cream bathroom rug in the front of it. A toilet was on the side of the tub, a cream rug in the front of that as well. On the bathroom vanity, which was on the right wall, was a built-in sink and near the handles was a soap pump. There were four toothbrush holders labeled: Baby 5, Buffalo, Law and me respectively. Seemed like the adults had bathrooms in their rooms. On the left side was a towel rack, several towels hanging already. A space left for me. The towels themselves were labeled, initials written in marker on the tags. Small bathing towels were no exception.

"Impressed?" a voice suddenly inquired

I jumped slightly, heart briefly pounding in my ears before settling down. I turned around to see that it was Diamante standing proudly in the door.

"Geez. Nearly gave me a heart attack. The bathrooms are nice I guess? I feel underwhelmed." I admitted.

The future gladiator cocked his head. "Doffy provides only the best for his family. This is the latest in bathroom furnishings. Do you really prefer washing in an overgrown pickle barrel?"

I blinked several times, confused before realizing that in One Piece, everything is behind compared to our world. Especially so in the past. This bathroom is normal for me while it's a mass improvement from wooden tubs and out houses, which I assumed they might have previously used.

I had no excuse to play off my lack of enthusiasm so "In my old house, I had a bathroom like this. So, there is nothing to be impressed about really."

Diamante raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like your old family had a good amount of Beli."

'New' bathrooms must be expensive.

I shook my head. "More like super saving. My mom hated spending money because we didn't make a lot. So, whenever we had a good amount saved up, she buys something like this to make life for the whole family generally easier rather than using it on herself like I've seen most people do."

The spartan hummed. "Very well then." Before turning around and leaving me as before..

Locking the door, I dug through the things in the bag. Towels, a toothbrush, a bar of deodorant and some clothes. The pirate captain wasn't kidding around when he said he got the bare minimum of stuff. With a sigh, I reset my things on the toilet seat and took off the clothes I was wearing, tossing them in the garbage. I didn't need things from my original world turning up on the invisible "Ask Order Later" list I knew existed or eventually will. Now fore the bandages. Slowly, I peeled the one on my arm off, wincing slightly as the tiny tinge of pain and the sticky ripping sound that it made..

Tossing the soiled bandages away, I looked at my arm. The burns were an angry red color, three wide diagonal bars lined one after the other. They were shimmery with sweat and slightly bled. Gingerly, I touched one of the bars, but my cold fingertips were welcomed by the irritated area. Even more gingerly, I took the bandages off my face. Two diagonal bars stretched from a little beyond my left cheek, over my left eye and a little above it. It was just as angry as my arm and bled slightly as well. I couldn't open my eye and had become worried whether or not I was legitimately able to open the eye, or the lid was too sore and weak for e to gain control of.

Third world problems.

Twisting the handle, I adjusted the water to temperature I wanted and wouldn't aggravate my sensitive skin and plugged up the tub. I felt metal rub against my bare chest realized the pendant was still around my neck.

I didn't take it off.

A loud relieved sigh escaped my lips as I sunk into the lukewarm water. The cleansing fluid washed over me, shooing away the surface dirt that clung to my body. I sunk deeper into the water until half my hair was wet, containing my giddiness about how relaxing this was. I scooped handfuls of over and splashed it all over myself. Leaning over, I grabbed the gray bathing towel provided to me and rubbed soap all over it until it lathered. I rubbed the gentle solute all over me, creamy rich lather smooth on me as I spread it all over. I ducked completely into the water then bobbed back up. I was careful with the burns, ever so slightly cleaning the area round the burn. I soaked for a while before deciding that it was time to rinse off. I stood up and unplugged the sink, pulling the nozzle on the faucet to convert it to shower mode.

The pipe shook, a faint hollow gurgle sound plaguing the bathroom before jets of water burst out. I stood under the streams of water, fascinated by the way the soap slid off me and down the drain. A childish fascination. Guess that's what not bathing in who knows how long does to you. As I aided in the process, I began to sing Shower by Becky G, though I immediately skipped to the chorus.

"You _light me up inside, like the 4_ _th_ _of July Whenever you're around, I always seem to smile, and people ask me how well you're the reason why. I'm dancing in the mirror n' singing in the shower. La la di, la-da la la daaa Singing in the shower la la di, la la da, la la daaa."_

I didn't sing this song because I was particularly in love with someone. It just had the words "singing in the shower"

As I hummed, I didn't notice that the temperature of the water gradually seemed to increase. Strange. It was at the same position as I originally had it. I winced slightly, it was starting to burn. I grabbed the handle and immediately turned it to the hard-cold side. The temperature did not subdue. I switched it to the other side, but nothing seemed to stop it. My burns were screaming at me. I couldn't jump out yet. I was still covered in soap. I struggled with the handle, trying to change the temperature to something that was more suitable for me. My eyes watered. This was frustrating, and it hurt.

"AHHH!" I yelped as the water became its hottest and I immediately shut the water off, skin throbbing at the unwanted heat. At least I was clean.

I dried of carefully and put on the burn cream and bandages that were in the medicine cabinet. I put on my underwear and the clothes Doflamingo provided fore me. I had on a black turtle necked long-sleeved sweater and white shorts that unsurprisingly, refused to stretch beyond my knee. Stubbornly stopping halfway down my thigh. And with how big the turtle neck was on me, even though the tag said small, it gave the impression I wasn't wearing pants at all when I shifted a certain way. I opened the door and looked down to see a Law, smiling evilly at me. What did he do?

"How was your bath. _Order-ya._ " He cooed evilly. That look was unmistakable. He was the reason the water began to get hot and stay at that temperature. He must have fiddled with the pipes. He was trying to hurt me without breaking the Blood Law and angering the other members. What stopped him from stabbing me while I was defenseless like he did Cora-san though? I'd imagine he hated the blonde marine undercover enough by now. But it didn't seem like he was there yet. Simply infatuated with me. In the sense that he wanted to see me suffer.

"Swell…tering." I gave a grim smile.

He frowned deeply. "Was that a pun?" He almost seemed irritated that I had time to joke about the matter.

"I don't know. You tell me." I feigned anger, pushing past him as I stomped away.

I briefly turned my head to see some of the frown turned up slightly at my 'anger'. So that's how it was going to be huh? Two could play at that game. Normally, I wouldn't condone taking revenge. I was the mediator of the family. Breaking conflicts instead of causing them. The peacekeeper if you will. The loadbearing family member. The pillar that prevented all things from crumbling into chaos. I wouldn't say that my family is dysfunctional. But there were times where everyone took a backwards flip off the deep end simultaneously and it would result in lots of chaos. Everyone except me.

I've never gotten angry before. Not true deep anger. The most was irritation. Being angry took up too much energy and most times it wasn't worth getting angry over. People come to me asking how I do it. How I never get angry. If I was born with some kind of deficiency that made me incapable of feeling the emotion. I just shrug.

But this. Oh heck no. I wasn't angry, just mildly annoyed and itchy in my burn spots. I wasn't taking this standing down. Doflamingo asked us to get along. This was the complete opposite. But I intend to correct that overtime. I need him to not hate me in order to save him and Corazon. Unfortunately, I had to stoop to his level then both bring the two of us back up.

Law might have been more hardened and jaded than a normal ten-year-old, but he was still ten and there were childish aspects of him that had not and could not be smothered out. This petty revenge (because we had to share one room) was proof of that. And that childishness is what I intent to work with.

" **Stealth Freakies- a feeling that comes before dead i.e. when you just feel a little bit sick before you realize that anything is wrong, or that your whole life is about to change for the worse or something else equally bad. "- Sixth Grade, Gloomers Norks and Me**

 **Looks like Law initiated some kind of war. What do you think is going to happen? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z- Useless but Try Anyway! Don't forget to leave a review. They are my motivation! Don't forget to follow either so you'll be alerted every time I update!**

 ** _Next Chapter_**

" You've put beans in my shoes for the very last time!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! Sorry for taking so long to update. Things have been a bit difficult lately and I didn't have it in me to write anymore. But I'm okay now so there may not be any really wide gaps in update times for a while. Don't forget to review! Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!**

Wails escaped my stomach and dragged me out of my musings. It was no question that I was pretty much starving at this point. When was the last time I ate anyway? I supposed it didn't matter as time was irrelevant anyway. Though, my plans to help reform was going to have to wait until after to got something to eat.

While I _could_ ask the other crew members to direct me to the kitchen, I'd rather not. I didn't feel comfortable just casually talking to them yet. I was still internally coming to grips with my current dilemma and talking to a supposedly fictional character normally was an obstacle in my road to figuring out just what on Earth happened to me. Besides, even if I did ask, they'd probably say something along the lines of "You have a brain, right? Figure that out yourself." Or something of similar nature. On top of that, I need to prove my worth and one stage of that would be displaying my independence. I don't believe I have any support from any of the crew members right now and acting like an invalid wouldn't exactly help my case. But…what am I? A Dad? It isn't a sin to ask for directions.

My musings were interrupted when my stomach growled again. A sigh escaped through my lips as I put a hand to my forehead. I decided that I might as well go to Law and I's room to think about this sitting down. Making a detour would have no effect for I would remain just as hungry and the kitchen would remain just as lost to me.

I made my way to the room and opened the door. Its hinges squealed as loud as an elephant who stubbed its toe on the corner of a wooden table while trying to flee from a hoard of mice. I winced, flinched and sucked in a sharp hiss at the wretched noise. Sinking down in my half of the bed, I rested my face into the palms of my hand.

What am I going to do?

I came into this world accidentally but decided to push through guns a-blazing. No doubt I dug myself into a hole so deep that if the hole were to be raised above ground it would be as tall as the Empire State Building. My mouth tended to run at a faster rate than my brain. Letting out another sigh, I flopped back on the bed. The moment I realized I was stuck in this chaotic world, I should have immediately tried to find a way to escape, knowing everything would have eventually be sorted out. I raised my hand in the air, reaching towards the ceiling and just stared at it for a couple seconds before closing my hand into a fist. No. I can't question my questionable decisions now. That would have to wait for later. Right now, I have to deal with the hand I dealt myself and play the game with what I have.

My stomach rolled again, and I grimaced in response, shuffling off the bed. Soup first. Though trial and error, I made my way to the kitchen…just in time to see Law pour my food down the sink. He stared at me. Surprise prevented me from saying anything the first ten seconds.

"Thanks. I wasn't hungry anyway." I said.

I'm pretty sure I sounded like I wanted to cry. To be honest, I really did, but I held I back. Law just stood there, a scathing look rather than that smug looking smirk he is usually known for. He didn't say anything for a few seconds more before shoving past me. The slam of the front door indicated that he went outside. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I opened in the fridge door and scanned over its…strange contents. I ended up having to make a sandwich considering that more that half of the items in the fridge, I did not know what they were. It was a safer option that cooking an unknown food item wrong and poisoning myself. Admittedly, it tasted awful, but I would rather eat this than plain dry bread.

Opening the front door, I went outside for the first time in three days. Upon the sun's rays beating against my pupils, my eyes immediately, and for the most part involuntarily squinted shut until they adjusted accordingly. I blinked a couple times before leaning over the railing, a little way away from Doflamingo who was smiling down at his 'family'. Diamante and Trebol were cackling down at Law who was attacking the former with a sword twice his height. The future gladiator blocked each strike with ease, causing the last survivor of Flevance to become angrier with each refutation, fueling the older men's laughter further. Gladius was blowing up piles of scrap metal while Lao G leapt in the air and kicked them into different directions. Machvise, who suddenly appeared as a blip in the sky grew bigger and bigger before flattening other piles of metal beneath his body. Rolling off the metallic pancake, the ton ton man tossed it to Giolla like a frisbee, who turned into some sort of weird sculpture that was unsurprisingly hideous. Of course, I wasn't going to tell her that. No one was. Dellinger, the one-year old human fishman hybrid waddled after the orange haired woman and clamped his sharp teeth on the sculpture, cracking it but not completely shattering it. Nevertheless, the baby looked happy with his accomplishment and clapped his hands excitedly. The art art fruit user humored him and clapped her hands as well, praising him for what he had done. Baby 5 and Buffalo were nowhere to be found, probably terrorizing the local kids.

"How are you feeling?" a deep voice suddenly asked.

I jumped up, skeleton nearly tearing out of my skin from surprise. My hands flew to my chest and I whipped around with a sharp inhale. Once realizing who It was, I let out that inhale and lowered my hands even though my heart was still beating in my throat.

"Goodness gracious. You nearly scared me half to death." I said shakily.

The sadistic pirate captain gave a low chuckle. "Now that would be most unfortunate wouldn't it."

"Very." I stared at him, voice now stable.

An uncomfortable silence crawled between the two of us and I found myself internally sweating. However, that works. I could feel him analyzing me, criticizing me and digging for clues to expose me as the phony I was. Or, could that deadly aura be emanating from Law, whom I noticed through my peripheral vision had begun trying to stab me with that piercing glare that I should learn to be accustomed to? Either way, I was not in a position that I liked and had begun to slip away from the railing when Doflamingo called my name, forcing me to freeze in the place.

"Yes?" I answered sweetly.

"If there's any problem with any of the other family members harassing you or treating up in an ill manner, do not be afraid to tell me."

"But…why?"

Doflamingo simply laughed at me. "Don't think you're anything special now. I do this with any female members. Despite how tough they appear, they all tend to be much softer emotionally. So, until they learn to solidify and stand on their own, I'll protect my family members."

I inaudibly gulped and gave an understanding nod. Internally, I reviewed his words. From the sound of it, it seems like he might already be building his army to take over Dress Rosa 13 years in the future.

"Order. Even though I do this will all new female members, I never tell them to come to me. They usually go to another head." The pirate captain said to me, the corners of his mouth tilted downwards in a frown.

"Why my exemption?" I pointed a finger to myself, raising a brow slightly.

Doflamingo, whom I didn't even notice had drawn closer to me, stepped back and turned with his back facing me. His hands were clasped behind him. "Don't think I haven't noticed you and Law's interactions. I don't know what happened between the two of you, nor do I care. But I do not condone blatant acts of disrespect towards superiors. Plus…you were chosen especially for me. I can't have things that belong to me be treated poorly, now can I? That being said, come to me. On the other hand, I need you to be more assertive. Assert more dominance. Do not let anyone walk over you, do what you must without breaking the Blood Law. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good."

With that, Doflamingo launched his strings into the air, latching onto the thick clouds and swinging off like Spiderman until he became a dot on the horizon, leaving me feeling unsettled. He said that I was just one of his things. The implication that he might have already started building his army was not good either. Regardless, what had the world tilting for me wasn't what he said, but rather how he said it. He said it with the gentleness of a loving father, filled with warmth and lined with promises of protection. His voice was soft and velvety, with the ability to lure in any sucker who wasn't aware of the pirate captain's true sadistic nature.

Yet, despite this knowledge, my brain still crashed under the weight of reality. It was trying to compute a kindness that did not exist in Doflamingo. He only cares about himself and would not hesitate to shoot anyone that gets in his way. Even his own blood relative his nothing more than an annoying shirt stain to him.

I shook my head to rattle myself out of my spiral. I should be rejoicing, shouldn't I? That I don't have to work so hard to get on his good side and it lessens the chance of getting a bullet to the brain. Before my…transfer into this world, I had already known that these weren't your typical run of the mill cookie cutter characters. But know that these are real life people…I was still having difficulties wrapping my mind around the realness of it all. Seeing is not always believing. I couldn't let my lingering doubts stop me from fulfilling my goals. Whatever warped dimension or universe I was in, the fact of the matter is that it was real, and I had to act accordingly. Right now, my first goal was to get back at Law and butter up to the rest of the crew. As I turned around to go to my room and thing of some…. behavior rectifying techniques…. yes. That is better than saying pranks. As I turned to form them, I felt a powerful aura seeping through the cracks of the door. I froze in my spot, dreading who was behind it even though I knew who it was. The brass knob juggled and clicked, the glued wooden planks swinging open, revealing an 8ft giant with a black feathered coat hanging from his broad shoulders looming in the threshold.

Before I could utter a single syllable, a large hand enveloped my face and tighten. He raised arm, reared it back, and flung me with all his might. My insides lurched as wind flew through my locks. The flight upwards wasn't so bad as was the plummet downwards. As I felt my body drop like a bowling ball, I prayed to the sweet heavens that I would land somewhere relatively soft in this yard of rejected mechanical parts. The ground came in hot and fast. Way too fast. In the blur, I saw that my apparent landing pad was an all too familiar teal blob who remained oblivious to his fate.

"Move!" I shouted at the top of my lings, trying to save the both of us from an unpleasant experience.

He did not move. Either he did not hear me or was confused about hear a voice shouting at him rudely seemingly out of nowhere. Black grew on top of the blob and a stick protruded from one side of it. Trebol became more defines as was the reality that he'd soon be a washable stain on the floor and I'd be sitting in a pile of living slime. I tried one more time to warn him, but it was too late. My warning was abruptly cut short as my skull collided with his, _painfully._ The rest of me sunk into him just as swiftly. The slime was thick, chocking off my oxygen supply. I dared not to open my eyes or my mouth. Rancid mucus filled my nasal cavity and slid down the back of my throat, forcing me to swallow. I thanked everything that none touched my tongue. It drained slowly and thickly, and I could feel it collecting in the pit of my stomach. White began to fill the space between my eyelid and eye balls. Multiple stars, black and twinkling danced the ballet in the background as I grew light headed and my lungs _burned_ , craving for oxygen that I was not receiving. I pushed against Trebol, trying to push my head out of the mucus but only succeeded in lodging myself further in, trapping my hands. I could tell when I tried to flex my fingers, but nothing happened. On the outside, I could barely hear the faint, muffled sounds of shouting crew members. My body shook in a way I could only assume was Trebol failing about in shock and panic. The burning in my lungs increased tenfold and the instinct to survive took over. I kicked my legs furiously and wiggled rapidly, hoping that they got my message. A pair of hands wrapped tightly around my ankles and pulled, liberating me from my semi solid prison.

The moment I was free I vomited, hacking and coughing as the mucus and acid poured out of my mouth. I drew in air in large ragged breaths, shaking as I crawled on the ground, clutching my midsection. The putrid smell assaulted my nostril activating my gag reflex, but I forcefully stopped myself from potentially emptying the first meal I had in three days. Settling down, I finally opened my eyes and saw, hovering above me was a pissed Trebol, an amused Diamante and a blank faced Law.

"Ne! Ne! What the hell was that for?!" asked Trebol angrily.

"Corazon." I answered and left it at that.

My answer seemed to placate him as his built-up face loosened and he stretched a hand out. The mucus covering me slid off and crawled back towards him. Diamante let out a laugh as he lifted me to my feet. "Well that must have been quite an experience."

"One that I prefer not to have again." By this time, I caught my breath. As I was standing, I couldn't help but to glance at Law, who turned his head away from me.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Gladius as he strode near, casually twirling a rusted metal pipe in his left hand as he, Machvise, Giolla and Dellinger came over to see the commotion as well.

"Corazon." I answered swiftly, hoping to shut the conversation down and move on.

"Ah." Machvise said.

"It's almost time for lunch. I'm going to find Baby 5 and Buffalo. I'd rather not find that they'd been sold into slavery. Again." Gladius huffed as he began to turn around.

"Again?" I tilted my head.

"It's…a long story." The explosive expert seemed to sigh through his mask.

"May I come? I'd like to get a better map of my surroundings."

He made no verbal indication of acceptance, but he did motion me towards his side with his hand. I quickly toddled over to where he was, and he fully turned around and began walking away. Our trip to the town was silent, only the soft clacking to stones and pebbles I shifted with my foot filled the space between us. We passed a sign that showed we were leaving Spider Miles. Not long after, we arrived at our location. Stopping before the entrance, Gladius turned to me.

"We'll split up to find them quicker. Then meet up in an hour, regardless of who we find."

I nodded and followed him into the town. Instantly, my senses were bombarded with different sights, smells and sounds that had left me disoriented at first. A blur of colors and shapes that moved back and forth, minding their own business. A cacophony of noises funneled into my ears. The shouts of vendors, the shrieks of children and the idle chatter of townsfolks were only a sample of the noises I was witnessed to. Wind blowing from the shout pushed aromatic smoke up my nostrils: earthy spices, seasoned meats and the perfume like sweetness of tropical fruit.

Having no idea where or how to start looking for the duo, I simply began my strolling through the town, scanning for stands in which the kids might have been interested in. I looked around for a while and so far, there were no signs of a buck toothed, overall wearing boy or orange ribboned, needy, maid outfit wearing girl. My range of perception was being stretched thin, all senses stretching as far as it out go to cover more ateas as I slipped through bustling islanders carrying 3 to 4 bags in each hand; women's husbands were carrying 5-6 more bags in their arms. Stray dogs and cats hissed and barked at each other in the alley ways, knocking over garbage cans and other people once their brought their brawls to the sidewalks.

While shouting their names out loud would be the quickest way to find the two, I opted not to considering I dint know the reputation of the Donquioxte pirates with the town. I didn't want to them to get angry and me and chase me for being part of the crew. Well, I wasn't really a part of the crew per say but I was already guilty by association.

"Oof!" an unknown voice grunted as I accidentally slammed my face into the back of another person.

I backpedaled as fast as I could, then looked up to see a stuffy looking man, He had dark, nearly pitch-black hair that was thin, greasy and slicked backwards. His tan skin was crinkled with wrinkles, deep parenthesis sinking around his mouth and further folded in by the tight-lipped frown he gave me.

"Watch where you're going you disgusting peasant!" he snapped

"Apologizes sir!" I quickly bowed by habit and ducked around him.

He merely sniffed haughtily and turned away, strolling to wherever he was going. I started at his retreating back for a second before continuing my own mission.

I wasn't sure how much time has passed before I finally was able to locate the two young pirates in and alley beating the snot out of another child behind a couple of garbage bins. Said child sported a split lip and a black eye, handed over some rectangular pieces of gray paper, which I assume was Beli and scuttled off. Buffalo and Baby 5 were giggling, counting their "earnings" and I sighed. Gaining a firm facial expression, I placed my hands on my hips."

"Where the heck has you two been? Me and Gladius have been scouring this town for almost an our looking for you two troublemakers."

The small devil fruit users jumped up slightly, startled my sudden appearance and light scolding.

"Oi! Don't do that. Are you trying to give us a heart attack?!" huffed Baby 5 as she pocketed the money.

"Anyway. We're glad you found us desayn. It was getting boring taking money from a bunch of weak punks. Now we can take money from a bunch of weak punks with you!" Buffalo grabbled my hand, prompting Baby 5 to tug on the other hand as well.

I bit back the wince of my injured arm being pulled on carelessly.

"Whoa now! Ow!" I tensed the muscles in my legs to make it harder for them to move me. The sudden stop caused their fingers to slip from mine. They stumbled.

"I told Gladius once I found you, we'd meet back at the entrance to the town. Once we find them then we can…harass…more people." I added that last part to placate them once I saw their expression had begun to sour.

This seemed to satisfy them for now as they once gain started to pull me more gently, but towards the entrance of the town. The brisk walk back was uneventful. Mostly because we were moving at a relatively fast pace as several people scrambled out of the way, realizing who I was being pulled by. The more confrontational townsfolk grew growls on their faces and started to come after us, wielding bats and other melee weapons. I leaned forward.

"How about we take a more…deserted route."

The two children acknowledged my concerns and dipped into a dark alley. We paused, silent until the small throng of people that had gathered around our area dispersed. Once they were gone, we turned towards each other. I pursed my lips and put my fists on my waist, looking upset.

"What? "they asked

I sighed and put my hands down. "Never mind. Doesn't matter now. Let's go."

We quickly but carefully made our way back to the entrance of the town just as Gladius arrived at the gate.

"What impeccable timing Gladius." I said.

"We beat up kids for money, and we didn't forget to pick on brats our own size and bigger." Baby 5 shouted happily, wrenching her hand out of my grip and hugging the punk dressed pirate.

"You did now do you?" he asked.

The two young'uns nodded enthusiastically. Gladius looked up to me, pulling his mask up which slid down slightly.

"Did they give you much trouble? These little troglodytes act out of hand when they know someone who isn't used to their behavior handles them."

I shook my head.

"Hmm." Gladius mused as if their behavior was suspicious. I would assume so too. I just arrived and had not weight over anybody. If anything, I half expected them to scream, protest and lead me on a wild goose chase throughout the town. Maybe they were told to act nice towards me the first couple of times and raise hell later.

They way back to the hideout was fairly quiet and without much incident. There was one case of Gladius lightly scolding Baby 5 and Buffalo for harassing a flock of birds by tossing stones at them. By the time we arrived 'home', the yard had been cleared from the scattered and crumpled metal scraps. I found that it was stacked into relatively neat piles along the sides of the general pathway rather than being chucked back into the mountain of scrap from which it originated.

"You go ahead Order. There is another matter I must attend to." He walked off before giving me a chance to respond.

Mentally shrugging, I lead the two young pirates up the stairs and began to open the door. Through the crack, I could see Law standing there just before the threshold, a deep frown on his face. I failed to notice the string connecting from the doorknob to the top of the door. All it took was the slight tilt upwards in the corner of his mouth to tell me that I had inadvertently fell for a trap set for me. Freezing cold water cascaded from a rust pail, drenching me, but was set up in such a particular way that the water drained outside. My clothes clung to my skin like grass seeds to a pant leg, the cold water stabbing me with a bajillion tiny knife. I was too shocked from the cold to gasp in surprised but the look on my face definitely showed it. Baby 5 and Buffalo guffawed behind me as Law chuckled darkly under his breath, the first version of a laugh I've ever heard from him since the burning of Flevance. I was glad, even though the reason was cynical. I simply huffed and shook off the extra water that dripped from the ends of my hair, clothes and finger tips. Protests rang from behind me as the two younger members were sprinkled with water. I ignored them.

"…. I'm not m-mad. I'm n-not even dis-disappointed. In f-fact, I f-fully expected s-something like this so…I-if your goal was to ups-set me then you f-failed." I said, stuttering from the cold.

Law gave no indication of what his goals were, though his tiny corner smile did drop.

"What's with you and him desyan?" Buffalo raised an eyebrow.

"It's…c-complicated." I answered. "However, this won't go unanswered. I most definitely plan to get him back."

"So, are you going to initiate some kind of war? If you get back at him, he wont like it and will try to strike again." Baby 5 said

"If that is what it takes to knock him off his high horse then so be it."

The two grew wicked smiles and turned to me. "We have some suggestions if you're interested."

"I'm listening."

After changing my clothes and bandages, the three of us constructed a plan to get back at Law. I was honestly surprised I managed to get them to agree with me. However, I think they were doing it for the sole purpose of upsetting Law rather than my cause. Either way, they were with me rather than against me and that was the only thing that mattered. Baby 5 called Law into her room asking him for a "favor". What it was, she didn't tell us. And she specifically asked that he take his shoes off for she "didn't want any dirt to be tracked onto the carpet."

While Law was distracted, Buffalo and I went into the kitchen, taking Law's shoes. Our plan was to put something gross inside of his shoes. We looked among the cupboards.

"There!" Buffalo pointed at a can of beans.

I pulled it down from the shelf and read the label. "…These things expired 3 years ago! What on earth?"

Buffalo just shrugged and took the can opener from the draw and put Law's shoes on the counter. I opened the can with the can opener. The inside smelt horrific. Slimy, spoilt, rotten beans sat on the inside of the rusted can.

"Jeez, I smelt the things before I even saw them. This isn't going to work with a smell that potent desyan. He'd smell them at the threshold of the door." Buffalo commented.

"We need a way to buffer the smell." I pulled open a draw and inside were what appeared to be my version of a Ziploc bag. "These might do the trick. The plastic can contain the odor but be thin enough to burst open when Law puts his feet inside. We'd have to set this up very carefully."

Buffalo nodded in agreement "Yeah, he could very well be the type of person who looks inside his shoes before he puts them on."

As she said this, I poured the rancid beans in the plastic bag and filled it halfway. Resting the can aside, I zipped the bag shut, folded it in half and gingerly stuffed it in the toes of Law's shoes. The three of us did some testing, walking in front of the shoes from different angles to see if the bag peaked out from anywhere. It didn't.

The two of us rushed back to the room and put Law's shoes exactly where we found them and hid. Not long after, Law left Baby 5's room, a blank look on his face. One of those horrified blank looks rather than a bored blank look. Not even looking down, he slid his feet into his shoes. We watched as Law's face slowly transformed into confusion and then quickly into anger. He snapped his neck in every direction, looking for us.

"You're going to get whiplash moving your head that fast…. oh gods…what is that awful stench!" Baby 5's hands flew up to her nose which was wrinkled in disgust.

"The stench of someone who's going to be dead very soon." Law growled as he looked down.

I took this as my queue and stepped into the 'limelight'. I threw a sideways smirk on my face. "I hope you're not referring to me now. Dying so soon would be a crying shame. Don't you think?"

"I think that you should hurry up and strangle yourself with those bandages already. What the hell was this for?!"

I pretended to think long and hard. "I don't know. Maaaybe it has to do with the fact that you threw away my food? Or…I know! _Dumped a bucket of freezing cold water on me!_ With every action there's an equal reaction Law. This is my response. I suggest you do not continue down this road."

"…Are you _challenging_ me?"

"Take it how you see it. Just know…." I walked over to him and bent down to his face. "I have _plenty_ more where that came from."

He bared his teeth at me. "You're on."

The next week and a half were a whirlwind of chaos in the Donquioxte household. Almost no one was safe from the flurry of 'attacks' Law and I sent to each other. It was a good thing that they didn't seem to mind the majority of the time, otherwise the two of us would have been in some serious trouble. Over the course of the two weeks, I saw Law's behavior towards me change ever so slightly. Not in the sense that he stopped being rude to me and finally respected me. I knew it would take a very long time for him to look at me that way, but in the sense that he saw us as equals of sorts. He knew that I could retaliate against him and hold my own. I was smart and wouldn't just let him do whatever he wanted to me as revenge for "letting his sister die". Granted, all of these were assumptions and there was no possible way to know what he really thought of me. As strained and odd as my plan was, it did have an effect on him. For one, he stopped glaring and me and growling every time I entered his presence and he stopped throwing my things away, which was good. Having to steal back something you stole is not fun.

The feud ended with a classic.

" _You have put beans in my shoes for the very last time!"_ Law shouted furiously.

"That's what you get for 'Connecting the Dots' on my skirt." I retorted

"I wouldn't have felt the need to do that if you didn't duct tape my entire side of the room!"

"Don't shrink wrap my stuff!"

"How I was not supposed to retaliate! After all, you did in fact but beans in my shoes. Again. Which for some reason you are obsessed with!"

"Only because you replaced the shampoo with syrup. I had ants in my hair for three days straight! Three! You don't mess with a girl's hair."

"Noted."

We paused.

"…. This needs to stop you know." I said into the silence. "This stupid thing that we're doing. It's not benefitting us in anyway. Just making us angrier and hostile at each other. There's obviously a lot that needs to be talked about and dancing around it by harassing each other is not the way. It hurts Law. I know. I know more that you care to realize or understand. And honestly? I'm tired. Of this garbage. I'm tired of fighting you and I'm tired of the other family members giving me the stink eye so…yeah. I'm done."

I wasn't expecting any type of response so soon but was surprised when I got one.

"Me too. This petty arguing is very annoying. You're annoying and I don't want to deal with you anymore. So, I'm done." He walked away, but just before he turned the corner of the hall, he paused. "Nothing has changed between us. I hope you know that. I still hate you. A lot and I still want you to choke yourself on your bandages but…. I can see that you wanted to live too. And I can't fault you for that. "

He disappeared behind the hallway corner and I was left standing there, a strange feeling was swirling in my chest. It was one that I couldn't quite place, but I knew it was a good feeling. Accomplishment? Possibly. I smiled. It worked. My dumb idiotic, farfetched plan actually worked. Sort of.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hope you guys like the last chapter.**

 **Leave your thoughts, comments, suggestions and predictions. I'd love to hear what you guys have on the brain in regard to this story. Constructive criticism is SUPER appreciated as I am always looking for a way to improve the quality of my work.**

 **Now enjoy this chapter!**

Two weeks had passed since my arrival and oddly enough strange things-within the context of the One-Piece universe of course-hadn't begun to happen. As a result, it set me on edge because strange (read: bad) things _always_ happened in One Piece. Whether it was to you, to someone you knew or someone you didn't know but it eventually affected you, always happened. That is why when Giolla gently put her hand on my shoulder, my unhinged brain decided that it was a wise idea to jump up and whip around with my foot high in the air.

She effortlessly caught my leg and raised an eyebrow at me. I winced and giggled sheepishly, muttering a quick sorry as she let go. "What's got you in such a tizzy?"

My brain bluescreened for a hot second as I tried to come up with a believable excuse. If I answered that I was waiting for something bad to happen, she'd ask 'why', which is a question I'd like to avoid as much as possible while I'm here. It's not recommended to tell a dangerous pirate crew that you're on edge because you live in a universe where something bad happens every 2.5 seconds and nothing has gone wrong yet. You'd land in some boiling hot water. As my brain spun the "Excuse Wheel", my ears picked up the squeal of an opening door. I looked over to the door to see Corazon exiting it, my body involuntarily shivered. Giolla looked to where I was staring at.

"Oh." She said. "He's been flinging you a lot lately. Wonder what you've done to piss him off."

It wasn't a lie. 4 to 5 times a day, I found myself eye to eye with the seagulls and flesh to metal in the scrap heap. The blueish green splotches that decorated my skin was a testament to that. Still, I wondered why he launched me into the sky twice as much as he did the other kids. Could it be that since I was the oldest, I should have enough sense to leave? He did fling the kids for the purpose of discouraging them from joining the crew. Obviously, that did not work. Maybe he especially wanted to get the message to me since I'm practically at the age where I could take care of myself. The other four kids…not so much.

"It's a wonder my bones aren't dust at this point." I deadpanned while scowling at my scapegoat. While I understood his reason for throwing us, it frankly, got very irritating and annoying to nurse avoidable injuries.

Giolla hummed for a bit. "How about you take care of Dellinger for a bit while I go out to run some errands? If Corazon finds you with the baby, he won't toss you. He never tosses Dellinger and by extension doesn't toss any of the kids when they're dealing with him. I'm sure you could use the break from his abuse anyway."

"Okay." I couldn't deny the offer. She probably just wanted someone to dump Dellinger on to begin with and used me as an excuse. Besides that, I literally had nothing to do nor nowhere else to go.

I didn't want to chase after Corazon, it was too early to reveal the truth anyways and a key event needed to happen first. All the other Executives and Law were off doing who knows what. Not that I particularly cared but it would help keep my back safe in the future where things would most definitely get dicey that I knew the exact details of when and what they were doing.

Giolla led me to Dellinger's room, which had some sort of 'Under the Sea' theme. It was mostly a lot of aquatic printed stuff. The art -art fruit user handed me eyebrow raising long paper, explaining the what and what nots of Dellinger. I looked down at the paper and back up at Giolla, only to find a blinking dotted outline of where she once stood. Great. I sighed through my nose and stuffed the sheet into the pocket of my knee length tan pants.

Soft snores floated about the room and I knew the baby was sleeping. Silently, I padded over the white wooded crib and peered over the edge. There, on a mountain of bedding lay a tan skin blond haired, sharp toothed baby, with tiny horns poking from tufts of hair on either side of his head. He had some sort of safety mitts on to prevent himself from accidentally biting his fingers off as he slept. Fishmen were many times more powerful than a human. A baby, who wouldn't even know their own strength would most definitely unintentionally injure themselves.

I reached a hand into the crib and gently brushed some hair out of Dellinger's face. The poor thing, being raised by horrible horrible people and growing up to become an absolute monster. Maybe, when Corazon eventually leaves with Law, me jumping aboard of course, I can somehow convince Giolla to give me the baby. That way, I can drop him off on an island with actual loving people and he wouldn't grow up to be so cruel.

"WAAHH!" Dellinger's startled cry snapped me out of my thoughts.

He must have sneezed himself awake, judging by the snot draining from his pointed nose. Quickly I whipped out the sheet to see if this event was on the list. Turns out, the baby sneezing himself awake is a common occurrence. All I needed to do was lift him up, wipe his nose and rocked him till he calmed down. That is what I did, and soon enough, Dellinger was all pathetic whines and mewls as I finished wiping his face with the baby wipes.

"Hi there." I said normally, Dellinger didn't like being baby talked. His brain was more developed than a human this age, so he understood the majority of what was being said to him. Even though he couldn't verbally articulate it.

"Jowa." He pouted. It took everything in me not to coo.

"She's running a couple of errands. She asked me to deal with you while she's gone. I hope that that's okay?"

He started at me blankly, as if deciding how to respond to my question. His response was to bite me on the hand, not hard enough to break the skin though. I hissed and dropped him in the process, but he landed on his feet just fine and waddled away. His head twisted and turned, and he toppled things over as if he was looking for something.

Pulling out the sheet, I looked down the long list which had honestly becoming nothing but an extended smear of black into to me. Suddenly, the sheet was yanked out of my hand and shredded to bits.

"What the…?" I breathed as the fine bits of paper floated down to the ground like snow. Dellinger was at my feet, spitting bits of paper out and picking some from between his pointed teeth.

He walked off contently, maybe the sheet was what he was looking for. I saw the hybrid climb back into his crib and sat on top of the bedding, giving me this evil glare before going back to sleep. Then it all clicked. Dellinger wanted me to figure out through trial and error what he liked and disliked. What the purpose of that was, I had no clue. Probably something malicious considering who his mentors were.

I frowned. I did not and was not going to do this alone. There was no way I was going to get blamed for making Dellinger cry when the hybrid himself shredded the paper that contained the ways to prevent that from happening. Opening on the door of my room, I found Law sitting on his side of the bed engrossed in some sort of medical book. The last survivor of Flevance did not notice me come in to stand by his bedside. As I result, when I barely grazed his shoulder with my fingers, he stiffly jumped in place. A strangled noise escaping him. The mild look of surprise on his face died and was resurrected as a scowl when he looked at me.

"What do you want now." His questions towards me always seemed like demands.

"Come and I'll show you." I answered, knowing that if I said anything about baby- sitting, he would instantly decline without even a first thought.

"No. Tell me what you want. I'm not getting up for something stupid. "he found his lost place in his book.

"I was given an assignment by Giolla. I need your assistance with it." I said, trying to glorify the task as much as possible.

The cover of the book lowered from his face slightly, but his piercing golden eyes were still locked onto the pages. "Why? Are you so pathetic and weak that you can't even handle what is probably a simple assignment? What is your sorry ass gonna do when we go on actual missions and you'll have to face some poor bastard by yourself?"

"Tch. Don't slippery slope me." I rolled my dark blue eyes and plucked the book from his hands. I did not need to think heavily about making this decision. Force was always necessary regarding me and Law. Hopefully, that would change soon.

Three years…that was the amount of time I had to forge an acceptably solid relationship with Law and Corazon individually before the latter decides to personally invest in the former. I wasn't going to speed up the timeline like how I saw others would do in fanfictions. This was real and besides, I'm not that lucky. Everything would go to hell in a handbasket if I tried to influence the timeline in such a significant way.

Instantly, Law pitched up, snarls and growls. Stretching his hands, he reached up for the book. I simply raised it above my head, being almost twice as tall as him even though I myself was somewhat below average height for a girl my age. Huffing he jumped back on the bed again and tried to leap on me.

"Give that back!" he grabbed my green long sleeved turtle neck and scaled me like a rock mountain.

"No." I shook him to the ground. He landed with a hard thump. "Only if you help me."

Rubbing his bottom, he gave me a vehement glare. Then he launched for my legs and coiled around them like a snake, trying to trip me up. I wobbled for a brief moment, tripping over my foot and chin landing hard on the mattress. Law unfurled himself and made a grab for the book I still clutched tightly. Sliding off the bed, I dove underneath and crawled to the opposite side. Halfway under, a white and black spotted hat blocked some of the light. He was waiting for me. I reversed, crawling backwards but the hat disappeared. I couldn't turn my head to see, but I knew he had shifted back to his side of the bed, waiting for me to pop out so he could grab his book. I crawled forwards again, but this time, albeit with difficulty, shifted so that I was parallel to the bed frame.

"Achoo! Ugh. Not coming out till you agree to help me." I said through burning sneezes. Dust had been kicked up due to my crawling and was now irritating my olfactory senses. I tried not to focus on the cobwebs hanging from the wooden frame nor the vacant dried shells of long deceased bugs.

"You're being immature. I thought you were supposed to be 18." Law kneeled; face pressed against the frame as much as he could with that wide-rimmed hat on. He still had an annoyed and angry look on his face. Typical of him. I was not intimidated.

"Only in body. Not in mind." I replied simply, then paused.

"… I'll buy you the latest edition." I bribed with few words, looking at the faded cover. Didn't want to come off as desperate, that would most definitely turn Law away.

Several beats of silence. Eyebrows knitted in a mix of skepticism and incredulousness in the fact that I actually believed that I could convince him to help with bribery of all things.

"You know I would." I lied, adding sincerity in my voice so that he wasn't so tipped off to my fib. It's not that I wouldn't. It's just I didn't have the money nor would I know where to acquire such a thing,

"Do I?" Yes, you know and know I would not.

More silence. Then.

A resigned sigh. A twitch of an eye. A pulse of a vein "Fine." He spat. An unspoken but fully meant _just so you could stop pestering me,_ hung in the air.

"Deal." I smiled and crawled from underneath the bed, exiting at the foot. Only my forearms once again tasted the light before I _felt_ rather than saw the medical book being snatched out of my grasp. It was so sudden that I inadvertently winced as if I was the one being viciously snatched.

 _THUNK!_

I hissed as I raised my head too early and my crown hit against the frame. Rubbing at the area, I finished crawling from underneath and stood to my full height. Dusting off, I told Law to come, who was sliding his book in the draw. He didn't answer verbally but rather rolled his eyes and tch'ed at me.

o-o

"Isn't this Dellinger's room?" Law deadpanned, no doubt looking up at me with a raised eyebrow.

However, his words were lost on me as I stared at the distinct Dellinger shaped hole in the door. This most definitely was not good. Pushing the door open, I barged inside and froze at the absolute catastrophe that was the room. Everything inside was either torn up, chewed up or utterly destroyed. The one thing that remained untouched was the crib. Of course. The bed is one of the most sacred pieces of furniture you could own. It made sense he'd treat it with reverence.

"Is this your assignment? Clean up that aquatic brat's mess?" Law was annoyed, bordering angry. To him, it looks like I dragged him away for something stupid.

"No. No, it wasn't." I redirected my attention to him, panic replacing the blood in my veins "We need to find him before he hurts himself."

"We?" his voice was flat, monotone. The type of tone he used with me when I thought I was asking a ridiculously stupid question. The tone he used with me so often, regardless of whether or not I even asked a question, I had become immune to it.

"Yes we." I huffed and turned around quickly, beginning the search. Forget the new book, I was doing _this,_ with or without him. Giolla had assigned the baby to me, and I wasn't going to wasted precious seconds of looking for him, arguing with a ten-year-old.

He said nothing but silently followed me to help search. The two of us checked the kitchen, Giolla's room, everyone else's room except Corazon's and Doflamingo's, the docks and pretty much all of the hybrid baby's favorite places to be. At least places that he was somehow able to access without supervision- the fact that a baby shouldn't be unsupervised at all notwithstanding.

"Giolla's going to kill me." I dropped onto a crate in the scrap yard and buried my face in my palms. We'd been searching for the better part of an hour and had turned up with dust. We had no idea where the small child had gone. It wasn't as if we could have asked any one to search for him either. He and us for that matter were part of a dangerous gang of criminals-we hadn't ascended to piracy at this moment-and it would not be wise to spread our name around. Who knows what unsavory folks would be after us?

"Maybe she'll suffocate you in one of her hideous paintings." Law sat opposite of me, clearly amused at the prospect of me choking to death.

"Or worse. Turn me into one of her hideous paintings. Death by Discount Picasso is such a stupid way to go." I couldn't even find it in me to disagree with him on that notion.

"Picasso?"

"Don't worry about it." I waved a hand of dismissal, thus ending this thread of conversation.

Yells and shouts of pain grab our attention. Screams of a baby followed along with the grunts of men and crashes of metal. All loud and clear as the noise came from below us. We were on a particularly high scrap pile.

"Ow!" hissed a manly voice. He sounded irate and just about ready to carve someone "Stupid shark like brat. I'm gonna be glad when I finally auction your ass."

Law gave me a knowing look and I returned it. The two of us sprang off our seats and practically sled down the scrap mountain. There were very few people who come out this far looking for spare parts. None of the executives nor Doflamingo really chased them away as most were deemed non-threatening. We had most of the useful pieces of metal after all and normally they normally would leave once they found what they were looking for. There were even less who had the bravery allele or like Law likes to say, "the stupidity gene", to pick any sort of fight in the yard. If that was the case, Baby 5 and Buffalo were normally the ones who discouraged them from ever returning.

We skidded to a halt and watched, hidden by a tall pile of scrap. There he was, Dellinger, being picked on by three older men. One of them, with a botched haircut had Dellinger upside down by the ankle, holding him a distance away to avoid the baby's chomping jaws.

"What are those guys doing with Dellinger?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Better question. How do we get him out? We're unarmed and for the most part untrained. We're two scrawny kids and they're three adult men. Even if they had the grace of a beached sea king, they'd have brute strength to compensate. We're at a major disadvantage." observed Law, ever the optimist.

Looking at one of the men aggravating Dellinger, I replied "But we have an advantage that they don't. They're on our turf remember. We know everything about the yard. Hiding spots. Launch spots, what can best we weaponized."

"Valid point but my argument still stands." He made a move, but I yanked him by the collar of his shirt. He didn't take to kindly to that and slapped my hands away.

"Before we attack, can we try acting civil?" I suggested. "We don't want to end up fighting if we don't need to."

He gave me this 'you can't possibly be kidding me?' look. " Do they look like the type to hold a civil conversation?" Law gestured to one man with crooked teeth and holding a burlap sack, who was screaming obscenities to the one holding Dellinger. His arms were flailing about and be nearly smacked his own comrades several times.

"Let's just try alright. Do you really want to lose energy engaging in a petty fight?" Honestly, I just did not want to go brawling if I didn't need to. I wasn't strong, yet. Most definitely planned to train, but at this moment in time, wasn't looking forward to it.

Law contemplated my suggestion. "Fine." He scowled and the two of us left our hiding spot.

"Hi there." I intentionally said in a squeaky voice to garner their attention.

My presence startled the men who all jumped. The one with a hideous haircut scrambled to hold Dellinger properly who instantly began reaching out for me with his tiny hands. He began whining and struggling against the brute holding him even further. Bad haircut, tightened his hold on Dellinger, causing the babe to whine and cease moving to avoid being hurt. Mentally, I frowned.

"H-hi there. What can I do for you youngsters?" Bad haircut looked at us sheepishly, as if he was caught with his hand in a cookie jar by his mom.

"Give us back our baby." Law instantly demanded before I even parted my lips. I didn't whip my head to towards him in a 'what the hell' gesture, otherwise that just would have made the situation even more awkward. Instead, I stared at the men with a wide seemingly innocent but truly unnerving smile that transformed into a 'do what I say or face the consequences' kind of smile the longer you stared at it.

"What?" the man was visibly confused. Though the way he whispered it under his breath seemed like a question more to himself than to us. I had to admit thought, a child the size of a terrier making demands to a grown man, with such a stone-faced expression mind you, are something that would make you do a mental doubletake. If not, laugh.

Law pointed at Dellinger to clarify and made a 'hand it to me' motion with his hands. "He belongs to us. Return him and you'll leave with only a word of warning. Refuse, and the consequences would be much greater."

A beat amongst the men. Heads turned towards each other in silent conversation. Two. Three.

Laughs. Laughs all around. Loud raucous laughter like _oh my gosh can you believe this pipsqueak? Just who in the North Blue does he think he's bossing around like that?_

"AHEM!" I cleared my throat loudly to halt the laughter. Law was simmering and I didn't need him to go ballistic on these guys. Not yet anyway. "Please excuse him. He's had a rough day and so have I. We really don't want to cause any trouble and would like him back please. We've been looking for him all day. Now that we've found him, we just want to take him home."

At the word 'home', Dellinger became all whiny again. He pushed against Bad Haircut's arms even harder than ever. "Home. Home."

"Sorry kids. We can't give him to you. We have some business to deal with him." the man struggled to control Dellinger's squirming form. It was not something he should have said to us if he wanted to get away.

"What business do you have with a one-year old child?" Law pretended not to know Bad Haircut's true intentions and folded his arms. Darkened became the shadows Law's hat cast over his face.

"That's none of your business puny brat!" spat Hideous Teeth. Law tilted his head to the side to avoid a flying glob of spit.

"It is our business. He's our brother." I added that last word to show importance and relevance.

"Brother? Ha-ha! You two don't even look a thing like him." Laughed Hideous Teeth. Bad Haircut just still struggled with the whining Dellinger and the third man just turned around and left, seemingly tired of all this. Now that I noticed, it looked like he didn't even want to capture Dellinger in the first place.

"Does that matter?" Law caught onto my drift, "He's still our family no matter what he looks like. So, give him back."

"No."

" _What_?"

"I said no."

In a snap, Bad Haircut had shoved Dellinger into the sack and made a mad dash with Hideous Teeth. Our bodies moved before our brains and chased after the men. Mouths moved next. Specifically, Law's, a very angry tone belting from it.

"See what your civilization has done!" Law snapped at me after he leapt over a stove.

I paid his scolding no mind as in the blur, a purple dot appeared on the edge of the scrap yard. It was Corazon running. He had left earlier and must have been returning home. I smiled; this was absolutely perfect. Corazon would kick their behinds for trying to sell Dellinger into slavery. After all, Corazon never touches Dellinger, so he would never allow any one else to do so either. I just needed to find a way to gather the younger Donquioxte's attention.

"Yes! Look!" I pointed a finger in Corazon's general direction.

Law turned his head to where I was pointing. "I see. So, your stupid plan did turn out to be useful."

"It wasn't stupid." I muttered too low for him to hear me, then I piped up. "All we need to do is keep running! I'll steer them closer to Corazon and you'll try to get Dellinger!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" snapped Law, but he increased his speed anyway.

At this I sped up, nearly caught up with Bad Haircut. I reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back and using the momentum to swing him to the side. He stumbled and slipped on scrap but managed to catch himself before completely falling down. He did not correct his path. The way I swung him was still to the exit, but he was far more to the right. Hideous Teeth followed suit, running more to the right.

Law had swiped a pipe that was at arms reach and used it to jab Hideous Teeth in the back of the knee. Being the son of a doctor, I knew he located and hit a particularly sensitive bundle of nerves as the man yelled out and his leg practically caved beneath him. He gripped the bag tighter and kept running.

"Shit." It must have had the opposite effect. Perhaps he hoped for the man to let go of the bag instead of grabbing onto it.

The boy sped up and jabbed the same area as well. Unfortunately, Bad Haircut had turned around to see our positions when he found out what Law was going to do. He pulled Hideous Teeth closer to him and Law missed. That was okay though. We were nearing the yard's edge. Corazon was close. I let my self get behind just a little, so I could build more momentum and run straight into Hideous Teeth's side. He yelled in surprise and stumbled, letting go of the bag and ramming into Bad Haircut.

Law and I were moving too fast to halt in time to pick up the bag. If we tried to grind to stop, we both no doubt would have just toppled over and rolled down the steep slope we were on. But the clear, slowly fading crying instead of the muffled screaming indicated that Dellinger had gotten out of the bag and was smart enough to go home. I didn't need to fear that anyone else would take him, no one showed up at the scrap yard around this time anyway. It was very late. Still, I'd have to ask when I got the time where did he go and how'd he managed to be caught by them.

Anyway, the impact of my shove finally caused the to men to completely fall down. Law and I ended up speeding past them as we were still in our full spring while the men were down. Yet, stretching their long arms they grabbed us by our ankles. I hoped the force of our running would be enough to break their grip.

That was a lie.

In fact, it only succeeded in making us topple harder and sharper than if we were to trip slowing down. I heard Law's muffled grunt before I heard by own. We were dragged back and pinned down as the guys crawled got up, hoisting us into the air with them.

"Oi! Put me down you Neanderthal!" Law's fists of fury were whipping uselessly as he punched the air in front of Bad Haircut.

"I'd appreciate if you do the same." I looked up at Hideous Teeth who stared down at me with a look too many men shared in One Piece. It was an amazing thing I had decided to wear pants today.

"No can do." Bad Haircut shook his head. "You two caused us too much trouble. We've lost our prize."

Hideous Teeth flipped me around and pinned me under his arm, my face facing his back. I mentally sighed. Bad Haircut did the same with Law, but his face was parallels to the man's face.

"I'm sure the two of you will make up the Berri you've cost us." Bad Haircut grinned, ignoring Law's shouting and flying fists.

"I dunno boss. Maybe we should keep this one." Hideous Teeth shook me. I didn't take kindly to that at pounded at his back. "She's definitely the prettiest one out of all the girls here. Feisty too. Just my type."

Then I dropped to the ground and he flew back. I looked above me to see a swirl of dark purple feathers and a spotted cap standing on the side of those feathers. Corazon. He saw us. He came. He got Law. He got me.

"Right in time." I sighed in relief and pushed off the ground.

The two men groaned but didn't get up. Their faces were sunken in with a massive footprint. We left them behind. Didn't need to beat them up anymore. They weren't coming back.

Corazon pulled out a sheet and a pen and scribbled something. He turned it to us.

" _What were you two doing?"_

"They were trying to sell Dellinger into slavery. We got him away but got caught instead." I explained shuffling to the opposite side of Law, away from Corazon.

" _Where is he now?"_

"Probably home now. We were going too fast to pick him up."

" _You left him alone?"_

"You see how dark it's getting? No one's going to be here to take the brat again anyway." Law answered this time. "Besides, after that, he'd learn to bite the fingers off of anyone who even _dreamed_ of handling him that way again."

" _That's not the point."_

"Well the point is, he's not going to end up in the house of some shitty Celestial Dragon okay! And we're not either. So, drop the matter." Law grew increasingly frustrated with Corazon's questions and snapped at him, even though he knew he probably shouldn't considering who his brother was.

Being around the man, made Law visibly angry. Ever since the blonde had tossed him that one time, he's had it out for Corazon's blood. I never understood why. Perhaps I should ask him once we get to the point where he doesn't criticize everything that I say.

I assumed Corazon had stared at Law before stuffing the paper and pen back into his coat. His shades were blocking his eyes. The eyes that held so much, that's why they needed to be concealed. Not because lowly creatures didn't deserve to look at his eyes. That's what his brother believed. Or at least made everyone think he believed. I knew the truth though. Doflamingo's left eye wasn't working, thus had a line crossing the left eye on his Jolly Roger. He believed himself to be a god and gods weren't supposed to have imperfections. He couldn't let anyone see his imperfections.

o-o

When we arrived back home, I was instantly greeted with the face of a pissed off looking Giolla. The temperature dropped by three degrees. Giant sweat drops practically manifested around my head. "I heard what had happened today…" she began slowly.

My heart plopped into my stomach and started to dissolve. Corazon and Law shuffled past me, leaving me in Giolla's wake. Those traitors. "Y-yes."

Her eyes narrowed, the shadows around them growing deeper. Then Dellinger came from between her legs and stared up at me. I couldn't tell what look he had due to his hat and blonde hair that badly needed a trimming.

"He has something to say…" she continued, still slowly like a lion getting ready to pounce on its prey.

"…" I stared down at the kid, face turning blue, glittering with sweat. This is it. This is when I die.

"Tank u!" he jumped into my arms and rubbed his face into my chest. There was surprise on my facial features.

I was baffled. I thought she was going to kill me. The air lightened and Giolla seemed pleased. "This is how he tests the newcomers."

"By being captured by human traffickers?" I tilted my head, I'm sure there were question marks floating all around my head.

"No. That was unprecedented. Normally he just makes a huge fuss, and depending on how he is treated, he'll say whether he approves of that person or not." Giolla let me pass and I stepped inside still shocked at the outcome of recent events. It was very underwhelming to say the least and I felt that a lot more should have been said or done.

Buffalo and Baby 5 were setting the massive dining room table. I smelt something good coming from the kitchen. It was nearly dinner time.

"O-oh. And I'm assuming I passed?" I grinned nervously, wringing my hands together as Dellinger jumped out of my arms and waddled past the devil fruit user.

"With flying colors!" Giolla clasped her hands tightly and used her foot to slam the door shut.

How though? All I did was wasted an hour running around Spider Miles with Law and nearly got caught by human traffickers.

"I'm…going to clean up and then help set up." I was tired and didn't know how to feel about the information I just received. I decided not to dwell on it and focused instead on washing today's filth off of me.

Dinner consisted of Chicken Souse. Two pots of souse were made. One had noodles in it while the other had rice. It wasn't nearly as lavish as it was two weeks ago. Well supplies and money were running out fairly quickly. Still, it wasn't anything like a struggle meal where it was barely any taste or ability to fill and only just took the edge off. Rather it landed in the category of a good filling meal enjoyable by all even though it could be a lot better.

Idle chatter streamed across the table. Law, Corazon and I were the only ones who remained silent. The former because he truly wanted nothing to do with these people save for Doflamingo and the latter because he couldn't break his cover. Me? I just had nothing to say to any of them. What would I even say? I wracked my brain for hypothetical conversation starters. Nothing.

Raucous laughter came from across the table. Baby 5 and Buffalo were clapping and laughing, making fun of Corazon. He'd accidentally flipped the bowl of hot souse all over himself. Pasta draped across his legs. The marine spy's head was bent down, mouth turned into a frown and shades hiding the only facial organ that reveals the truth about how one feels. I frowned myself. I honestly felt bad for Corazon. He honestly didn't deserve that. Then again, harassing the younger Donquioxte brother could be the only way the young children could get back at him for tossing them all the time-without breaking the Blood Law. It looked like they were the type to do that.

Doflamingo had asked Corazon a question, something about a small assignment, which was probably the reason why he was coming back home to begin with. Pen scribbled on the paper almost hypnotizingly, as the little scritch scritch noises shot off, I wondered: what can I do now to help Corazon with his mission and become less suspicious to the Family? Fixing certain issues now could certainly help in the long run when crunch time came. One of the biggest tip offs was when Corazon and Law had disappeared for months and the Marines had barely known where Doflamingo was.

"Oi Order. What is it that you are thinking so deeply about?" asked someone around a mouthful of food. I was to into it for my brain to decipher who it was. Regardless, the voice had still startled me enough that I gave a little jump at my…name…being called.

"Nothing. Nothing." I said quickly. Too quickly. Way too quickly for it to be overlooked.

I got glares. Glares hard enough that I had no choice but to submit. I sighed.

"Fine. I was thinking…." Uh what was even going to say. I looked to the pen and paper. Got it "Everyone in there should really learn how to speak in hands. Or make our own method of communicating with Corazon. It saves time and paper."

Corazon looked at me. I shivered. I felt as if he was going to throw me again. The other members looked at me in silence in varying degrees. All of them had their personal set of expressions I couldn't really identify yet considering that I knew none of them personally.

"I have to agree. It would be convenient in fights as well. Talking to each other across the battle field, but no one knows what we're planning." Law casually says, breaking what I felt to be a rather uncomfortable silence.

"Fufufu! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Only birds fly." It took a moment for it to click in everyone's heads.

"Ah." Came the collective response.

Then everything went back to normal. Once again, an underwhelming reaction to what I felt should have sparked more comments. I blinked again at the rough and awkward exchange. I honestly expected for them to laugh at me or make some snide remark. I supposed I wasn't integrated enough into the Family for my opinions to really matter. Whether they were useful or not.

Everyone was done soon enough and went to do their own business before it was time to go to bed. I helped Giolla clean the table and washed the dishes before going into my room and collapsing on my bed. Today was exhausting.

"You weren't really thinking about communicating with that clumsy clown were you." Law didn't look up from his book, the one I finessed earlier today.

"What gave you that idea?" I sat up properly, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions, making sure to stay on my half of the bed.

He said nothing, focusing completely on his book.

o-o

That night, Law had a night terror. It was different from his usual nightmares. Usually, he would toss and turn once in a while, mumble indecipherable words, sweat and wake up. Me, being a horrifically light sleeper was awake to witness every single fit and watched as he slowly shuffled off of our lump of a mattress, sit in the window and stare at the moon despondently. Tonight however, was a completely different story. He was thrashing about wildly, legs moving as if he was running, kicking me in my neck and back several times. I was surprised he hadn't accidentally thrown himself off the bed. The typically light sweat came down like a torrent, the sheet was soaked. Quiet mumbles turned into near shrieks and yells, he almost looked like he wanted to cry. But he promised himself that he would never cry again. His face was contorted in pain and agony as if everything he was experiencing in his dreams, he felt in real time.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to help him, yet I had to do something. Shuffling over to where I was (getting kicked in the process) I drew him closer to me. His little fists where still shooting off but I positioned it in a way where he'd be swiping at air. I ran a hand through his damp hair and sang. There were no words that I sung, just soothing hums and vocalizations. Slowly but surely, Law started to relax. His face had smoothed out and he had stopped failing. Rapid breaths slowed to an acceptable pace. Gently shaking his shoulders, I woke him up. I read somewhere that you had to wake the person up and let them wait a few minutes before letting them go back to sleep. I assumed it was to let the 'brain reset itself' or something.

Law groaned and then stopped, sticking his hand out and then recoiling it quickly when he slammed his palm against my face. We slept with our backs facing each other.

Instantly, he shuffled back only to cringe in a pile of his cold sweat. "What…happened."

"You had a night terror. Had to calm you down then wake you up." I explained, not moving from my position, though I now rested on my back instead of my side.

"I see." I felt him shuffle closer to me, not too close though. Just enough to be clear of the sweat puddle but not close enough for him to be pressed against me like he was beforehand. It was a medium sized bed, so it worked out.

I gave a noise and nodded my head even though he wouldn't be able to see it, grateful that he hadn't thanked me. I'm sure he was grateful I hadn't asked for thanks either. Having to say thank you to anyone, especially to me probably would have killed him before the Amber Lead.

It was silent in the room after that. Not an uncomfortable silence per say, but still the type of silence that eventually became uncomfortable if you sat in it for too long.

"…Wanna talk about- "

"No."

"Okay."

That was that. Morning came and I was like a smashed barrel. Neither of us had gone back to sleep. Law because every time he tried to get a decent rest; his brain decided to loop back his memories of the blood stained Flevance. Me, because once I'm awake, I don't go back to sleep unless extremely exhausted. My brain decided 3 hours was enough even though my body thought otherwise. Unfortunately for me, the brain won and forced me out of bed when the sun had peeked through the slits in the blinds.

A rather deep huff of a groan came out of me as my feet hit the floor. Zombie-like, I ambled to the shower, got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. The shower did nothing to wake me. In fact, it only seemed to heighten my temptation to sit carefully in the tub and go to sleep.

When I was done, all the other family members were already seated, dressed and eating. I was the last one to arrive. In this sleep deprived state of mind, I couldn't care. Roughly dragging the chair, I plopped me behind in it and my forehead instantly dropped to the table as if the bones in my neck suddenly disappeared. I couldn't help but let out a guttural sound of pure exhaustion, a slight sob making it say in the tail end. My eyes burned and I couldn't move my arms. It was like auto pilot had sporadically switched to manual without giving me any time to prepare.

"Sounds like you had a great night." Someone sarcastically remarked. I was too tired to tell who it was. All sounds sounded exactly the same to me right now.

"Simply magnificent." I responded with the same bite, probably even more now that I was irritated.

With a determined huff, I practically launched my head off the table and with my will alone plated my food and started engaging with the Family. It was a bit difficult running on pretty much zero bars but somehow, I managed to do it. Breakfast smeared into one quick blur with pointless drivel, tipped milk glasses, complaints about how the pancakes were burnt, then dares to make better pancakes. All in all, stuff I could safely not pay attention to. Then, Doflamingo spoke.

"Three days from now, we will have our raid on Rakesh. Those bastards have betrayed us, and you all know how I deal with betrayal."

Yes, I knew very well.

"Official training begins for our new recruits shortly thereafter." He turned towards Law and I, purple shades glinting in the sunlight, that wide smile on his face. "Prepare for a world of hurt."

Law looked at him as if Doflamingo was offering a challenge. Doflamingo grinned then looked at me.

"…Yes, Mister Doflamingo." Was my firm response.

 **Hope you liked. Felt this chapter was weirdly structured in some parts, but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. This was mostly filler but some action is coming up! Yes! And Corazon has made his official debut! I think things may speed up after the next chapter, don't want the foundation of this story to burn too slowly now.**

 **Don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**...ah...sorry if the formatting is weird. My subscription to Word ended and I don't have the money to renew it right now. So I'm typing this on note pad, which if you didn't know has even less than basic and something you would turn to only if you're desperate to write. I'm not desperate but...I gotta write man. Now that I've finally graduated high school (yay me!) I have more time to do the things I want. Plus I can't stand being idle so...here we are.**

 **Don't forget to review and enjoy the chapter.**

Somehow, those three days leading up to the raid lasted way longer than the past two weeks. Time crawled, nearly to a stop and i didn't like it one bit. Maybe it was the nervousness that sat in my stomach like a lump of coal that shot time with Captain Foxy's Slow-Slow Beam. Either way, all the waiting had made me sweat out half my weight and i was so not having a good time. Not that being stuck inside of an anime where your entire life can be ruined out of the blue in five seconds flat and being on arguably one of the most dangerous pirate crews to date accounts as having a good time. However, turns out becoming a living fountain of salt water was rather unnecessary considering that

" You and Law are not coming. It's just a quick errand and we don't want to put you two in unnecessary danger should they pull something unexpected. We have a particular system when dealing with stuff like this and we don't want unofficials getting in the way. But it should be fine! You'll have Buffalo to entertain you!" Baby 5 added a smiley face and a heart at the end of that sentence, always the most cheerful of our bunch.

I internally cried with joy and relief washed over me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. Not at the Buffalo part, I found him somewhat annoying-on the screen and even more so now that he's two inches from my face: he steals my money and squanders it on ice cream. Being lactose intolerant, it stings me a little that he spends it on food I can't even take back from him as payback. I wasn't about to smack it out of his hammy hands either though. That was just being wasteful and petty. Law didn't seem to care. Then again, he always never seems to care. You couldn't really tell what he was thinking anyway due to the seemingly permanent scowl that was etched on his face. The boy just scoffed and walked away after the girl's message. Balling the paper, flicked it into the garbage before walking away myself. By this time, everyone had left to lay waste on Rakesh, leaving the our trash hideout to me, Law, Buffalo and Corazon. Buffalo went into the nearby town, most likely to harass some of the street kids. Law was sulking outside, staring at Corazon who was reading a newspaper with hate filled in his eyes. It brimmed, threatening to flood over and be unleashed onto any poor sucker who crossed his path at an ill time. Probably best not to bother him. Who knows what he could be thinking about? I'd rather not have any of that directed onto me if I could help it. My goal is for him to hate me less not more. Though as I looked, something tingled in the back of my mind, telling me that something important was supposed to happen. I just couldn't remember what though.

The events of Dressrosa were long and very confusing as well as the fact that it happened over the course of a couple years, at least in my time, which makes it a bit unbelievable that Doflamingo's empire came crashing down in a single day because of a meat loving rubber man and vengeful free modification surgeon. My memory of what happened were linear and fuzzy at best and non-existent at the worst. I could say for certain that it wasn't at the worst. It was somewhere in the middle. Ridiculously scrambled and fuzzy, just bits and pieces of certain scenes popping in and out at various intervals. All which meant I had to pay very close attention to what was happening around me. I couldn't just go through this flying by the seat of my pants. I needed to make a plan, mentally write down a list of all the things i wished to accomplish, but the storage capacity in my brain rivaled that of a gnat's. I simply couldn't trust myself to store pertinent information in a space filled with so many holes it was 85% guaranteed that relevant information would slip out at one point if the box was rattled hard enough, even more so in high-stress situations. Considering where I am, I'd be facing a lot of those. I'd be in more trouble with Doflamingo than Rodger was with the World Government if he ever were to find out what I knew. But then I thought against it, more likely than not, something was going to happen along the way that would render any plan I make useless. So it was better to improvise this entire thing then and avoid getting in trouble by accidentally responding to a situation I should have no prior knowledge of? I sighed and slid against the wall outside, next to the front entrance and rubbing my temples, quite possibly thinking myself into a headache.

There was just...so much that was going happen and the possibility of everything falling to pieces in the time it took to blink lurked at every single corner. Even more so now that I'm here. This world wasn't meant to hold me, so now that I was squeezed into it, the world would most likely shift and bend the story to try to support my existence. Meaning, that there are several unknown variables that have now entered the playing field on top of the fact that I've landed in the first year rather than the third. There were two whole years that I would be going absolutely blind in. Knowing nothing, zip, zilch. That was more than enough to begin to fray my nerves. Doubt that every thing would be more or less smooth for me in the Void Years began to fill me. Not too convinced I'm was blessed with the luck of a protagonist. Or even secondary protagonist for that matter. Then there was the issue of how I even got here to being with, and how I was going to get back home. What was up with my body and why it changed physically was not so much of an issue but rather a mild annoyance that I intend to figure out as well. It's just that I never read any stories where those sucked into this insane world had physical alterations done to their body besides being given the extra 'oomph' needed to survive. Heavy stomping on creaking steps, alerted me of someone's presence and I looked up to see the most disproportionate of the Donquioxte children, Buffalo. With twig like legs, it was a wonder how his kneecaps managed not to shatter with all the pressure it must be withstanding. His face was fat and chubby with really defined cheeks and Timmy Turner teeth peeking from his thick lightly colored lips. Jeez, Oda could design some hideous characters. At least he looked sorta okay when he got older.

" What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice. I really didn't want to be bothered by Buffalo of all people. Not while I was going through a crisis i'd never thought I'd have.

Instead of receiving a verbal answer, a leather wallet greeted me square on the nose before sliding down into my lap. An empty leather wallet. _My_ empty leather wallet. I glared up at him, and the triple wild berry ice-cream cone that he held in his hand. Dripping and sliding between fat riddled fingers without a care in the world.

" Thanks." I said sarcastically. " You're blocking my view." I made a pushing motion with my hand to emphasize my point. Though, I didn't really care about any sort of view. I'd be staring at gray and rust for quite a while. I simply didn't want him standing directly in the front of me, invading my personal space.

Buffalo seemed to get the message before scooting over to the side and sitting directly on the side of me, even more so invading my space _plus_ blocking the sun. His shadow was cold. Very cold. I couldn't be bothered to make him move again so I just sulked on the side of him. Buffalo turned his ice-cream stained face to me.

" Why are you so boring?"

The question was so unexpected and out of the blue I actually choked on the air I was breathing in. After managing to calm down, I managed to sputter out a wheezing "what" before my own spit started to choke me as well.

" You're boring-desyuan. You're no fun. Baby 5 is fun-desyuan. She plays with me alot. Law is mean and mean people are not fun, so he's excused. You on the other hand, are not mean-desyuan. So you should be fun. Why aren't you fun?" he repeated clarifying his question a bit further.

Wiping spit with the back of my hand I answered with a shrug " ...Who knows? Maybe I'm not fun to you but fun to someone else. Maybe you're not the fun one so I don't want to play with you. Maybe there's nothing here that I can have fun with." I curled my knees closer to my chest. I really didn't want to be conversing on the prospect of fun with Buffalo right now.

" Nu-uh. You don't know how to have fun-desyuan." Buffalo pitched in his own idea on his urgent question, completely disregarding what I had told him. What was the point of asking me a question if you're just going to ignore what I said and come up with your own conclusion anyway?

" What makes you think I don't know how to have fun?" I turned up my head at Buffalo, raising an eyebrow to him. I can't believe i'm actually humoring him right now, but then again, there's nothing for me to do right now. So I'd might as well entertain myself with this. Plus it would be a little cool to get more perspective on Buffalo's character. I didn't really see much of 'him' in the anime.

The giant child shifted his body more towards me as well. " I can feel it-desyaun. You're stressed out about something. Stressed out people don't know how to have fun. All they do is sit around, and sulk and look like they're always thinking about something-desyuan. All you've been doing is sitting around, sulking and looking like you're always thinking about something. You're stressed-desyuan. You don't know how to have fun."

My mouth gaped like a fish, opening and closing as i listened to Buffalo's observation. He wasn't entirely wrong, more than a few strands of hair had been falling out of my scalp lately as a result of the critical, situation I've found myself in. I wondered if the other members of the Family noticed my behavior and just chose to ignore it.

" That's...quite the analysis you've got there..." I breathed, still in shock about how easily he read me. If a child can do this, then what are the trained adults noticing? How much have I already unknowing revealed through my body language? How much does Doflamingo know already? Possibilities began to stream endlessly through my head. Not many of them were good.

" So I'm right then-desyaun. What are you stressed about? Maybe i can fix it and you'll be fun, so you can play with me and Baby-desyuan." he brightened at the idea of me interacting with him more if he was able to fix my problem. Sorry dude, can't touch this.

" It's...not anything I can tell you. Not ever actually. Really personal stuff. Sorry." I turned my head away from him, hugging knees as close as I could and burying my face in them.

Buffalo frowned for a bit, then stuffed the entirety of his ice-cream cone is his mouth, chewed like twice then swallowed. He licked the remaining milk and sugar off his fingers and wiped his face with the back of his hand, then licked that off too. " Okay then. I understand. Almost everyone in the Family have personal stuff they can't tell anyone-desyuan. Even Baby 5 can't tell me when I told her I needed to hear it. She just burst into tears and I promised to never ask again-desyuan."

I stared up at him in silence before looking back over the scrap yard. "...i think singing is fun." i said quietly, not intending for anyone to hear really. Never thought Buffalo to be the type to be sensitive towards how other people feels. Through his interactions with Law in the show, he really liked to take advantage of him through bribery and was insensitive and criticizing towards the Flevance survivor. Or maybe I was giving the buck toothed child more credit than he actually deserved? It could just be this particular thing-personal issues-that he was sensitive about?

Buffalo's huge ears picked it up like I shouted with a mega phone. " Then why don't you sing-desyaun?" He asked casually, as if asking what's the weather like.

" I have nothing to sing for. Plus I don't have my guitar. I mean, I can sing without one. I just prefer to sing with one. Helps me keep the key." I answered just as quiet. Why was Buffalo so interested in this?

Buffalo seemed to ponder on what I said for a moment before speaking. " I'll get you a guitar-desyuan. Then you can sing and have fun with me and Baby 5." His response honestly surprised me.

Our conversation was briefly interrupted by a heavy set of footsteps and the very dramatic drop in temperature that left the world shaded ice blue. Something sharp was pressing against my consciousness, as if it was trying to force it's will upon mine and over power it. A sharp shiver snaked down my spine and it took most of my will to keep my body rigid and release the nervous energy in the form of several unnoticeable finger twitches. Tips of blonde hair could be seen long before reaching the very top steps due to Doflamingo's towering form. There was a deep set scowl in his face. The kind that that kept Buffalo from jumping up and happily greeting his Master. Instead, the large boy thickly swallowed, stood up gave a single nod in acknowledgement, trying to hide the terror in his face. I did the same, standing up though my height reached nowhere near as much as Buffalo's did. The pink clad man stood before us and gave a nod as well.

" I'm going to rest. Make sure nothing disturbs me." his voice boomed from within his chest, somehow still quiet but demanding and expecting nothing more or less that the command he just gave. As if he was a king, giving his orders to his court and required their undying obedience.

He disappeared past the door and it slammed shut, rattling the wall. It took a few seconds, but the air did warm up again and we both shook off our chilling encounter with the leader of the Donquioxte Family. We sunk back to the floor, my legs feeling rather weak, like jelly and suddenly being unable to support my weight. I near felt like passing out. Was this is what people who was exposed to Conquering King's Haki felt like? No. It was probably a lot worse. I doubt Doflamingo was even using his Haki. That most definitely would send Buffalo and I sprawling into unconsciousness. At least me for sure, I knew for a solid fact that my will meant nothing in a world where even children fearlessly stand up to monsters. But if that was the aura that man exhibited with his Haki stuffed into a what I assume to be a very tightly capped bottle, then I applaud future Law for staying awake while Doflamingo and Luffy, both potent King's Haki users had a Haki battle ten inches above his face while he was already seriously injured and well on his way to unconsciousness regardless.

Silence remained between the two of use for a brief moment more before I broke it and folded my arms. I didn't want to dwell on Doflamingo for too long anyway.

" Why would you do that for me? What's in it for you? And what's with it with you and 'fun' anyway? Life isn't all about fun you know."

" I know-desyuan. That's why i like to have it. It keeps me...distracted...from all the bad stuff. It keeps Baby distracted as well-desyuan. I think you should get the chance to be distracted as well-desyuan." Buffalo answered with a strange seriousness, following my idea of trying to loosen the shake from the encounter.

" But...why?" I answered, seriously unknowing as to why Buffalo would be helping me. I was just the 'new kid'. Who knows how long Buffalo had been serving under Doflamingo before Law and I arrived? Quite possibly a long time to due the absolute comfort he and Baby 5 had with harassing Corazon has much as they did.

" You keep letting me steal your money for ice-cream. If you seriously had a problem with me taking it, you'd be hiding it in better places-desyuan. I don't think you're air headed enough to just forget about that. Unless I'm wrong-desyaun." He narrowed his eyes in judgement. Ah. There it was.

I gave a nervous chuckle. " No. I can always steal more money and keep that separate from your ice cream money." Man, really dodged a bullet there. But seriously, was I really that careless? I really needed to step up my game here if I didn't want to be torn to shreds by the sharks of this universe.

" Ha! I knew you weren't that dumb-desyuan!" Buffalo pitched pitched up, grabbed my hand and yanked me forward, the momentum raised me a feet feet in the air. " Come on! I think there's a music store down there. We can go, get a layout of the area, then steal it when everyone's left!"

His hand tightly wrapped around my slender wrist, Buffalo more or less dragged me downs the stairs with him. I nearly stumbled over my own ankles a few times due to the unusual speed at which Buffalo was moving. I thought heavier things moved slower than fast things. But i supposed this didn't necessarily apply to Buffalo when it came to something that he wanted. Buffalo flew down the last fight of stairs and landed heavily on the ground. I grunted, my shoulder rolling in an uncomfortable manner. I was manhandled for a few more minutes before Buffalo halted abruptly, causing me to slam directly into his back and bouncing off. I wrenched my wrist from the boy's suddenly loose grip and gave him an annoyed look. But that instantly melted off when I saw the shocked look on Buffalo's face. Turning towards the direction Buffalo was looking an, an equally shocked look donned my face, but my expression was a bit more haunted as I watched the scene, as I remembered.

This was when Law stabbed Corazon in the back.

Law's feet were already in the air with the momentum, sword pierced deep in Corazon's side. You didn't have to see to know that it came out through to the other side. Law pulled out the now bloody weapon, and the younger Donquioxte brother slumped out of his seat and down to the ground, clenching his side tightly. The last survior of Flevance stared over the trembling body for a few seconds, sword raised to finish the job before before Buffalo shouted out that he must inform Doflamingo, alerting Law to our presence. He whipped his head towards us, looking at me for a few moments longer than he stared at Buffalo, then dashed off, tossing the bloody sword somewhere off in the distance. I could see that a million curses were running through his head.

" I must inform the Young Master!" Buffalo exclaimed, quickly whipping around.

I jumped immediately in the front of him, nearly getting bulldozed. " Absolutely not! Didn't you hear him about making sure nothing disturbs him? Besides, what makes you think Corazon won't squeal on Law later anyway? You really think that man is going to take a poor assassination attempt from a punk like Law? " I asked, constructing my words to appeal to the loyal Donquioxte follower, even though i knew stopping Buffalo would have no effect on the inevitable events to come.

Buffalo looked torn between duty to report to Doflamingo and what I had said, then he shivered and settled for what I had said. " Fine. But if anything goes wrong, I'm blaming you for not letting me do my job-desyaun."

I let out a breath of relief. " Good... Why don't we go buy something sweet to eat to distract ourselves from this unsettling discovery. Law will get his punishment soon enough." I patted Buffalo on the back. I wasn't going to chase after Law, he was going to be dragged back by two of Doflamingo's subordinates anyway. Nothing I needed to do there. Well, there was nothing I needed to do here either, but Buffalo looked super panicked. So I guess I was extra insurance to make sure Buffalo stayed here.

" I'm going to find Baby 5. Wanna come?" Buffalo offered instead.

" No." I shook my head, I didn't want to be around the artillery girl. Despite her cheerful attitude, her know-it-all demeanor turned me off. Squinting at the spot where Corazon still lay I said " I'm going to make sure he isn't dead or paralyzed or something. Law struck super close to an organ...I think."

I didn't wait for a response as I shuffled down the scrap yard carefully. I didn't want to slip on something and start barrel rolling down a slope of pointy bits. As a got closer, i saw Corazon slowly and painstakingly get up, nursing the wound in his side. He was going to need a new shirt by the looks of it. Not that it mattered anyway since that a new shirt was going to get ruined later by blood anyway. Corazon fell again and I uselessly stretched my hands to catch him, being pinned to the ground myself. My height didn't help either, I barely came up to his knees. The guy was a sky scraper, and a heavy one at that. Corazon glared at me and I rolled my eyes.

" With that wound, I'm pretty sure if you fell flat, you wouldn't be able to get back up. Now stop griping and come so I can bandage this thing." I pushed up off the ground, giving Corazon the leverage needed to get off the dirt easier.

Corazon wordlessly followed me up to the house and into our little medbay. It wasn't all that impressive. Just a bed, and a table with a couple draws filled with needles, bandages, disinfectant and pain meds. There were also several worn medical texts on some shelves that was this close to giving up the ghost and just collapsing on the floor. Though the books looked like they were worn from the elements and not by actual use.

The Heart Executive sat heavily on the bed and peeled off his bloody shirt, tossing it into a bin in the corner of the room specifically for blood stained clothes. I cleaned both wounds, on his front and back with soap and water before disinfecting them. Corazon hissed and his muscles clenched but otherwise he let loose not another syllable. I inspected the wounds closer, I was by no means a doctor but someone with at least two brain cells remaining could see that the cut, both of them for a matter of fact would need stitches.

" Uh...I don't know how to stitch wounds..." I stood before the beast of a man awkwardly my hand scratching the back of my head. I would have asked Law, but as you know, he ghosted the instant he was caught.

He pulled out a paper and a pen from out of his feathery coat and scribbled on it quickly. _Don't worry about any stitches. I heal fast. Just bandage them._

I gave him a look of uncertainty and squinted further at the agitated red skin. " Are you sure, those things are pretty deep..."

He just nodded and I shrugged, doing as he said, making sure the bandages were wrapped tight enough that no blood would seep through for as long as it could and hold the patches of skin closed, but loose enough so that it wouldn't cut off his circulation. After that, Corazon stood up. He probably meant to ruffle my hair as a thanks or something, but all I saw was a giant hand heading towards my face and I flinched, arms shooting up to brace myself for a fall that wasn't going to come and crouching down low so it would be a little bit more difficult for his tall injured self to reach me.

Corazon paused and retracted his hand, a shocked look on his face then a grimace. My face burned red with embarrassment and relief that he wasn't going to make me kiss the drywall or something flooded me. Still, I couldn't help but laugh nervously and feel ashamed for having such a visceral reaction to simple human interaction. " Haa...haaa s-sorry just a reflex."

I'm pretty sure that only made him feel worse though, as he left in a considerably worse mood than he was in. It wasn't long before Doflamingo called us all into the dining room for a meeting. Entering the room, I saw Giolla and Gladius roughly bring in a struggling Law. He writhed in their grip and twisted, but their hold remained firm. Gladius sucked his teeth behind his mask.

" Stop squirming boy." and he thwacked him upside the head, tilting his hat.

Law hissed, adjusted his head wear and let them carry him before Doflamingo, coming to the conclusion that this is where his journey was about to end. I could see no disappointment or resignation on his face. He didn't look regretful but there was no sign that he accepted his fate either. Rather, there was a sort of contemplative look on his face. He was probably wondering why Doflamingo wasn't raging with lava for blood and already slicing him to bacon for harming his brother.

" Found him on the docks looking like he was getting ready to bail." Giolla said, dragging a chair back and sitting in her seat. She leaned back in it, wiping sweat from her brow. Looked like Law gave them a bit of a difficult time.

" Already? It's such a shame. Just as how I was getting ready to finally accept him into our crew." the blond man said, voice smooth and with faux disappointment. A smile was on his face. As usual.

" What?" Law whipped his head towards Doflamingo. He had pointedly not been looking at the don of the family, but rather at his brother, who as always remained quiet.

" Yes. The initiation process took a bit longer than usual but I can see it your eyes Law. You have a certain quality to you. After experiencing such a horrible past, I figured that that burst a couple weeks ago was just mere desperate anger. But now I see it, you are fully serious in wanting to burn the world. Considering that I'm going to do the same, I can't let a gem like you slip through my hands. Not when you put yourself there." the man smiled, grin widening.

" I half expected you to throw me away for good and I'd just have to find another way to do what I want. I'm going to die in three years anyway. If you were taking me in for personal reasons and not to heed my wants, I wouldn't be beneficial in the long run." Law said.

" Well all of that depends on your luck. We run our own string in the black market. Our specialty, devil fruits. There are millions of devil fruits in the world, but there are hundreds that file through our fingers. I'm positive that before you bite the dust, there'd be a devil fruit that could assist you with your little issue there."

Law frowned " Whatever. Do as you like. I'm not looking to extend my life span anyway. There is no cure and I don't believe a bogus magic fruit would be able to do that."

Trebol growled as Doflamingo just laughed at Law's spice " Ne ne, watch how you speak to the young master you little shit."

Law didn't grace Trebol with a verbal retort but rather gave him a swift and sharp gesture. A gesture that would become very trademark to him in the future. Particularly with the Sabody Auction House scene.

" Oi Doffy, what about the girl over there?" Pica pointed at me, I bit my bottom lip hard to prevent myself from laughing at his high pitched voice. It sounded like he was constantly streaming helium up his nostrils. The stone-stone fruit user noticed this and snarled at me, but couldn't do anything about it since I hadn't technically laughed at him. Stopped by his own rules.

" What's mine is mine, and I'm not going to let go no matter what." Doflamingo said with finality, flashing me a glance. " I'll whip her into Donquioxte standards if she's not up to par. She'll have no choice but to improve."

I internally scowled at his wording. I wasn't a piece of property. But then again, in Doflamingo's mind, everyone was beneath and just a piece of property waiting to be owned by him. Added to the fact i fueled that delusion regarding myself in him when I showed him that necklace and claimed to be chosen for him. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have said that and come up with a different way for him to take me what. But what's done done is done done. Corazon's wet and hacking cough, broke me out of my thoughts. A fist was to his painted lips, muffling the sound as well as he possibly could and holding back the blood that was seeping through his teeth. Doflamingo turned his head towards his brother and I watched Law turn deathly still. He was probably thinking that this was his end, just as he got accepted. Buffalo, had a grin on his face, a knowing grin that could be interpreted as schadenfreude if you looked deep enough. Though at first glance, you didn't think that Buffalo was the type of person to enjoy that type of thing. Then again, he laughed at his own torture at the hands of Pica.

" What's wrong Corazon?" Doflamingo asked, having not seen the blood yet.

The person in question didn't give a verbal answer but shifted slightly. He looked like he made a move to make a sign that everything was alright when he hissed in pain and red smeared all through the fibers of his pink shirt.

" You're bleeding." the older brother said calmly, though through the thick veins throbbing in his forehead, I could sense he was holding back barely restrained anger. " Who did this." It wasn't a question. It was a demand.

 _Enemy_

Corazon lifted up the card, as if he was prepared that this was going to happen. In fact, he had a thin stack of pre-prepared cards for the possible routes that this conversation was going to go down. Huh, interesting. I never noticed a stack of cards in the anime or manga.

" Where is he now?" Doflamingo's fingers twitched, invisible strings, barely glinting in the chandelier light, humming a song that promised a very painful death to the one who harmed the last member of his biological family.

 _Finished him off_

" Good." Doflamingo seemed to calm some, though you could still see the slight shifting of veins beneath the skin of his forehead.

And just as I let out a breath of relief that this tense scenario was over, Buffalo shouted words that made my blood freeze on the dime. My heart dropped into my stomach, settling next to the last remnants of that coal from three days ago. It took every fiber of my being not to accidentally break my neck swinging it towards Buffalo. My body went rigid, turned to stone and mouth stapled shut to prevent myself from screaming to the heavens ' Why Buffalo why? Why can't you keep your trap shut and let this sweep? Why must you be so loyal?' But alas, Buffalo was loyal, not to a fault, but loyal enough.

" No! Law was the one who stabbed Corazon-desyaun!"

The room froze over. I could hear each individual vertebrae in Law's neck crack as he moved his head towards Buffalo, with eyes filled with anger and disbelief. Maybe not disbelief with Buffalo personally but probably about the whole situation. Off the hook and into the grinder. Throbbing veins reappeared twicefold and I knew Law's blood would be spilled if this wasn't remedied.

" Mister Doflamingo, Buffalo is misinformed! Law did not stab Corazon. I was there. It was just from the angle Buffalo was standing at that made it seem like Law was the one who stabbed your brother." my mouth finished the sentence before my brain gave the command to consider the option.

Corazon and Law was barely able to hold back their heads from whipping towards me swiftly in surprise.

" Order's lying young master. She's just trying to defend him. I watched him break the Blood Law." Buffalo argued.

Before Doflamingo got a word in edgwise I shouted again. No way I was going to let him smear my name. " Shut up Buffalo and think for one moment! Law doesn't even make to his kneecaps. And he barely makes it to the half mark if he jumps. How on this planet do you think Law could stab Corazon anywhere near above his waistline when the man is a 10 foot giant!" Buffalo was going to make me strangle him out of fear. I was shaking in my skin and my voice was this close to cracking up. I could hear the contemplative twang of string in Doflamingo's fingers as he tried to sort out who was telling the truth and who to punish for lying. I knew he smelt one. His nose wasn't sharp for nothing.

Buffalo opened his mouth but no sound came out of it. He was cornered. Corazon initially said there was an enemy, if Buffalo tried to deny there being an enemy, it would look like he would be calling Corazon a liar, which Doflamingo would not appreciate his brother being called. There was silence in the living room, a thick heavy silence that could be cut with a tangible object. Someoene's life was on the line after all.

" But-" Buffalo's voice was as meek as a mouse and hollow too. He could not win.

" Do I have any reason to lie Buffalo? My behind isn't the one in danger here." I dug the final nail in the coffin, making sure there was no millimeter for the boy to dig into and rip up my argument. Turns out I nearly stuck my foot in my own grave.

" Say..." Diamante said slowly, directing his attention to me. And I did not want his attention on me. He along with Trebol, were one of the one who's opinion's Doflamingo held in high regard. If Diamante had suspicious on me, then there was no doubt Doflamingo would keep a closer eye on me as well. " Why are you defending Law if you arent in danger of losing your life? Shouldn't you keep your nose out of business that doesn't involve you? In the event you are lying to defend his skin, why risk it?"

Fighting an audible gulp, I kept my gaze and voice steady. " I'm defending him _because_ my life isn't in danger, sir. I have no reasons to fear any possible consequence as lying for him and endangering myself when I was already in the green zone is a foolish thing to do. Besides, I only have the Young Master's interest in mind. He wants Law, and it would be a shame for him to lose that over Buffalo's simple misunderstanding." A piece of my soul chipped away calling Doflamingo 'young master'.

Diamante seemed pleased with my answer -probably because mentioned his master's interest-and leaned back into his seat. I supposed Doflamingo was observing me too because I no longer felt a steely gaze on my neck.

" Doffy, how about we ask Law what happened? Maybe a different perspective could help sort things out. Honestly, I don't know why such a simple thing already clarified by Corazon blew up into such an issue involving such uncertainty." Senor Pink suggested, trying to hold back a yawn. It was plain to see that he wasn't impressed by all this and heavily reeked of ' let's get this over with, i have better things to do.'

" Ne ne. Are you sure? The little brat could lie his way out. I feel several has already been weaved, it would be very easy for him to bounce off of those that has already been said." Trebol pointed a flaw in Senior's plan.

" You can't lie to a liar." Doflamingo said, looking at Law, hoping that he was truly innocent.

A tap brought his attention away from Law and to his brother. He was holding up a message stretched across two sheets of paper, hand slightly quivering. He must be going into a bit of shock from blood loss. He had been sitting there for quite a bit.

 _This is stretching longer than it needs to be. Buffalo is just mistaken okay? Let everyone go. I don't want to bleed out on the table where we have to eat later. And...I think I might be going into a bit of shock._

And Corazon did look a little pale and seemed to be swaying a bit. Doflamingo sighed. " Very well, this will be dropped. I trust that Buffalo truly was mistaken and Law did not stab my brother. Lies were spread tonight and a god was truly on your side tonight that did not find out who was lying and what that lie was. If anyone lies to me again in the future, and i find out. There will be hell to pay. You may all leave. Law, carry Corazon to the med bay and patch him up."

Everyone grumbled as they left, muttering about having their time wasted. Buffalo shot me a pretty nasty glare as he left but I didn't care. There was someone else who I had my attention on.

I followed Law and the Heart Executive, making sure to stay out of the line of sight of Corazon. I hightly doubted Law cared if I followed him, but there was a chance that Corazon wanted to 'say' something separate from Law and didn't want anyone to hear it. Timeline was different now. Crouching down by the door and pinning my ears, making sure to position myself in a way that's comfortable but also easy to pitch up and dash away, I listened to a one sided conversation.

" Why did you defend me?" Law asked, voice flat, business like.

"..."

" So what if he killed me. Then my desire to burn the world wasn't meant to be." he said as if it were simply facts.

"..."

" I don't care if you think that that's a waste of life. Besides's it wasn't like mine is going to last long anyways."

There was no more conversation after that except for the occasional Law shouting at Corazon to " hold still and stop squirming around!" It sounded like Law was having a little bit of difficulty with the youngest Donquioxte brother. Maybe he didn't like needles. Pretty sure that was what was happening. No way Law was going to dismiss Corazon without noticing the man needed stitches. After confirming that there was nothing else note worthy that was going to be said, I ditched my position, making sure not to make any noise as I rose from the floor. It creaked a little, but could easily be passed as someone walking by. Throwing my body across the bed, not even caring I had trespassed onto Law's side, I heaved a deep deep sigh. Today was a very long day. Unfortunately, it was not over. There were several hours of sun left. Maybe I could walk around the town or something. Pick pockets then buy something nice.

Oh no! I was thinking like a criminal. It's only been two weeks but I didn't think it was that easy for me to fall into their pace!

I rolled over and stared at the ceiling, a single hand dangling in the air, wondering how I was going to make it. I ended up falling into a light sleep, stretched out on the bed, only awoken when I felt my body being shoved roughly to the floor.

" Jeez. Calling my name would be enough." I groaned, rubbing at my eye which began watering and yawned.

" Doflamingo wants to see us." Law said flatly before leaving the room.

Law and I stood before the big bad in all his pink feathery glory. He seemed less irritated than when we saw him a couple minutes ago. Probably took his frustration out on some poor unsuspecting thugs if the light traces of blood on his face were any indication.

"The day is still young. You two have a lot of work ahead of you in order to be truly useful to this family. Training begins now."

"Now?!" I couldn't help but exclaim. It was so sudden and out of the blue even though I knew it was coming.

Doflamingo grinned. " Yes. Now."

 **This was super hard to write and I don't think I got everyone's reactions right. Maybe I'll come back to fix it later. Don't forget to follow and review. Also, I'm not an athlete so I know next to nothing about training. So if anyone can link me up to some helpful websites that would be swell. Of course I will do my own research but having extra help would be nice for this next one.**

 **As always, see you in the next chapter and don't forget to drop a review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey. I'm back Happy New Year. Long story short for the newbies. Hurricane Dorian came and messed up my life pretty badly. But I'm back in college now and normalcy in my life has been somewhat retained. Updates will still be kind of slow tho.**

Doflamingo made no error in stating that training would be brutal and merciliess. At the end of just the first day, my bones had already felt like jelly and I collapsed to the floor in a spineless heap. Every muscle in my body twitched in agony, overworked in a way it never has been before. While I never was the most athletic, I was not too badly out of shape. This however, was on a completely different level and made me feel weak and pathetic. Almost made me consider whether I had what it took to pull this massive scheme. Almost. I was in too deep now. My second thoughts regarding the plausibilty of my personal mission meant nothing now that it was properly underway, starting with my full acceptance into the Family. I heaved a suffering sigh, but that quickly transformed into a painful groan as my chest and stomach burned with the process of inhaling and exhaling air.

Law didn't seem to be doing much better either, though he certainly did not look like a pile of useless flesh and bone sprawled about like I was. Instead, he just laid flat on his back, arms spread directly on the side of him, heavily breathing. A cloud moved and the sun shone directly into my pupil. I squinted. Despite the sun setting, and the sky shades of pink, purple and orange, the sun was still surprisingly hot.

Shadows grew over Law and I, blocking the sun's rays. I positioned my head ever so slightly to see Doflamingo's face. He wasn't smiling but he did not have that deep-set frown on his face that showed he was truly disappointed. It landed somewhere in the middle.

" At least you two made it to the end of today's training. Those I trained as a test usually quit withing the first 10 minutes."

" Thanks. I usually try to see things to completion. Even if it seems like there is no way I could do it." I painstakingly rolled over so that I was looking at him directly instead of craning my neck.

" Hmmm. Then I hope you will use that same determination to ensure The Family's missions are completed."

I simply nodded, clenching my teeth behind my sealed lips as my neck muscles _throbbed_. Doflamingo then directed his attention to Law, who was struggling to stand in the man's presence. He managed to stand stock still for a whopping three seconds before his legs caved beneath him, toppling right back down to the dusty ground. I could tell by the wrinkes in his face that he was annoyed. He must have hated looking weak and pathetic in front of the man who would allow him to burn the world. The pink pirate must have noticed too.

" At ease." Doflaming said, a small smile finally gracing his features. " It's only the first day. You will get stronger in time. Though, I do admit I was a bit rough with you two. I'm just eager and excited. Fufufu. Never before have I been presented with this much young potential to grow and harvest at once."

"Get up and rest. Tomorrow will not be any easier. In fact, this next month will only become more difficult as time progresses."

" Naturally." I said.

Doflamingo grinned wider, adding a chuckle. " Especially since in a month's time we'll be stealing a boat and heading to Log Town and Reverse Mountain. It was about time I get off this backwater island and expand my business. I had planned to go much earlier, but I hadn't been expecting you two. However, I'll glady set my plans back if it means getting more capable recruits. The rest of the crew already knows and will be training you in the upcoming weeks in their own fields as well amongst other preparations."

Doflamigo walked away, hands grapsed behind his back. He paused for a moment and turned his head slightly back towards us. " I'll assume you two are perfectly up to this task. Do not disappoint." Then he continued to walk without gracing us a moment to respond.

It was just silence for a while as the sun continued to set. Dark was nearly here before I heard shuffling and saw Law shakily standing up and wobbling back to the house. I took this as the moment to stand up and head back to the house too. I needed a nice hot soak.

In the hallway, I unfortunately caught the attention of Buffalo who was not very pleased to see me. He made that very evident as he suddenly rammed into me, violently pushing me to the floor.

" Attack me all you want. There's nothing you could do about it now unless you want to die." I glared at him, wiping blood from my nose with the back of my thumb.

" Why'd you defend that traitor-desyaun! He broke the Blood Rule!"

" Corazon _already_ defened him. There was no reason to go against that. It would have been fine if you kept your trap shut. You've never heard the phrase 'snitches get stitches' and it shows."

" 'Snitches get stitches'?" Buffalo parroted with a tilt of his head and a confused look on his face.

" Yes. It means open your mouth when you don't need to, you'll get punched so hard that you'd need stitches at the end." I stood back up, leaning onto the wall for support.

" Whatever. I'll keep my eye on you and make sure you don't lie anymore-desyaun." He frowned and crossed his arms.

I sighed, not wanting to deal with this anymore. " Just...look. You don't need to do that. You don't. I didn't mean to lie okay? I panicked because Corazon already covered for Law and you messed that up and Doffy really wanted Law and I couldn't let you ruin that for him."

Buffalo inspected me for a second and let out a sigh. " Fine. I'll believe you. It does seem like you're really sorry. And to be honest-desyaun? I would lie to make sure Doffy gets his way too. So...lets just put this behind us? Deal?"

" Deal." I said, crossing my fingers behind my back, knowing full well Buffalo was going to hold me to this. He did it to Law in the original story so why can't he do it to me?

The handshake was firm and solid and we parted ways. I went to the bathroom to prepare for the night and he went about his business. After the shower, I practically threw myself over on my side of the bed, sinking into the rock hard matress. Though, with how sore and tender my muscles were, it felt like heaven. Soon exhaustion overcame me and I found myself asleep before I knew it.

An overwhelming urge to use the bathroom caused me to awaken. Unfortunately, me shuffling out of the bed caused Law to wake too. He was always a terribly light sleeper. He grumbled a curse at me before snuggling deeper under the covers.

"Sorry." I winced before tiptoeing cross the creaky room floor and going to relieve myself.

Along the way back, in the darkness, house only illuminated by the Bruce Almighty moon outside, I took the turn to the hallway that led to Corazon's room, a light under his door dimly shining. I stood there, idling in the hall for a moment before taking a decisive step forward. The true beginning would take place in a month. I needed Corazon to be on my side as soon as possible. I needed to help him cover his tracks,make sure, that when the time comes, his message would be sent to the correct marines. Waiting would only increase my margin of error. I have no idea of knowing when the undercover spy would begin transfering messages to Sengoku about the Donquixotes locations. It would be terrible for me to be caught unaware and end up on the wrong side of the Marine's rep sheet.

As I continued walking, the pit in my stomach only grew deeper as questions flooded my mind. Was I being too hasty with this? Should I just let this timeline run its course and only interfere at the most critical moments? Would Corazon even believe me after my display? Then I paused for a moment, remembering that Corazon wasn't there for my spiel and I relaxed a bit, reigning in my thoughts before they completely ran away. But I paused again. What if Doflamingo told him what I said afterwards?

I dragged a hand down my face. This overthinking wasn't doing my heart very good. Before I knew it, I was standing infront of Corazon's door. Evident by all the darker spots in the already dark door from where it burnt from cigarrets, and the little grooves and nicks from where he most likely crashed into it. I let out a calming breath, though that did nothing to calm me. I supposed in a situation like this, anytime would be too soon until it was too late. Before I attempted to get his attention, I peeled the necklace off my sweaty skin and stuffed it in my pajamas pocket.

I didn't try to push on the door handle, of course that would be locked. Couldn't have anybody stroll in when potentially talking to a top Admiral of the marines, whom most likely reported to Fleet Admiral Kong.I let out my breath and knocked twice, wincing as the sound seemed to echo throughout the deathly quiet house. No response. I waited a couple seconds then knocked twice again. Once again, no response. I waited even longer this time and there was no indication of Corazon being aware of someone at his room door. Perhaps he had his powers activated or was deeply asleep and he accidentaly left a lamp lit.

Either way, the door wasn't answered and I turned to walked away slightly disappointed but mostly grateful that I didn't have to confront him so soon. I wasn't a foot away from the door yet when it finally opend, soft shadows lining the walls of the hallway and illuminating the better half of the Donquioxte siblings. Turning around to face him, I noticed he had haphazardly slapped some light makeup on and held a sheet of paper in his hand.

 _Yes? Is there anything you need?_

The movement of my blood slowed dramatically but didn't freeze completely. I couldn't afford to freeze.

" Not particularly. I just noticed your light and thought you might be awake. ...wanted to see how your wound is doing and...stuff." I said softly my unsuredness definitely slipping through my voice.

He scribbled something down. _It is doing fine. Thank you. Fine work. Sure I would have bled much sooner if done myself_.

I give a simple nod. " Well okay then. Goodnight."

Corazon nodded a goodnight back then closed the door. I bit my bottom lip and balled my fist. No. I had his attention. I couldn't let this opportunity slip by. I may not have another chance to catch him alone like this once life became more hectic with my life of piracy in full swing.

" No. I'm not done. Open the door back please? It's...very important for you to know." I knocked again.

There was a beat and the door opened again. He motioned for me to come inside and I did, with him closing the door behind me. Corazon strode over to his couch and sat on it and I stood before him.

 _Yes._ He wrote on the paper.

I decided, I have to ease into this. Corazon took his job very seriously considering the position he was in. This wasn't the Corazon the fandom loved at the moment. Right now, this is the on duty Corazon with one mission and one mission only. Bring down Doflamingo. I have to play on that but first, I need to ensure that absolutely no one is listening.

" What I'm about to tell you is very serious and very important. What I'm about to reveal to you could put me in a coffin at the bottom of the Calm Belt if the wrong ears manage to hear upon this...or Vegapunk's lab table. So I need you to keep absolutely quiet about this."

 _Okay._ Corazon face as usual showed no emotion so I didn't know how serious his agreement was.

I pursed my lips, stepping a few feet away from him juust in case. "Okay then...well...I know many things I should not. Unfortunately, there is nothing I could do about that. So I decide to put my...forbidden knowledge to good use."

 _Okay. What kind of knowledge then?_

"I need you to stay perfectly calm and not rush at me when I tell you this."

O _kay? You look really scared actually. What is going on?_

I started what would undoutedly be a lengthy conversation with something simple. "I know you can talk but have a devil fruit called the Nagi Nagi no mi which helps you keep quiet."

Corazon's muscles immediately visibly clenched and instinctively I scooted to the farthest possible wall with my hands crossed over my head in a protective gesture. A second passed but it felt like a year. A horrible year that stretched on and on and never seemed to end. But that year ended and I heard the snap of fingers and a hum. I looked up to see both Corazon and I encased in a purple bubble.

" How do you know this." A gravely voice demanded, barely restained whatever he was feeling.

Not inching closer I carefully said. " I know things, that I simply should not. It is because I'm not suppsed to here, in this world. I don't belong here. Yet here I am and there's nothing I can do about it. But...if you know life will become hell on earth for the most undeserving of people...wouldn't you try to do something to change that?"

There was just long, calculating silence. I didn't like that.

"Doflamingo is a terrible, evil man. The only word capable of describing him would be an abosulte monster. If he continues to roam, hundreds, no thousands of people will die. I know you're trying to stop him...I want to stop him too. That's why I'm coming to you. To make life a little easier for you."

" Why should I believe you? How do I know I just haven't completely destroyed my mission."

" I'm no snitch. I could have easily agreed with Buffalo just cause. I know you didn't want Law to get in trouble so I tried to make it seem like Buffalo was in the wrong. He attacked me for defending him afterwards and even earlier than that I stopped him from squealing to Doflamingo instantly. I was about nearly bulldozed as he raced to tell his precious 'Young Master'." I filled that hyena's nickname with as much disdain as I could.

Corazon had not relaxed yet he did release some tension, but not nowhere to the amount I would be comfortable around him. " This is all very hard to believe. Not of this world? Preposterous."

"I know it sounds ridiculous but you have to trust me. I...don't know how I got here myself. Even then, if I was truly with the Donquioxtes, don't you think I would have told them how to succeed beyond what they are capable of already? And if I were to tell them in the future, why would I come to you first, actively knowing you're trying to bring him down. That just doesn't add up."

" It doesn't but...if you know how things play out then...why are you interfering?"

"It's because I know how things play out that I'm interfering. Terrible things happen and will keep happening as long as this crew isn't disbanded. As long as your brother isn't rotting in the 6th level of Impel Down chained from arms to waist to legs in heavy duty seaston _chains_. Just...all around terrible things. I mean...I don't know exactly when or completely how these things happen. Just that they do, and I don't want you or anyone currently on life's chopping block to be caught horrificly unaware. Its just...if I really didn't care, the moment I realized where I was, I would have turned tail and fled. Heh...anyone sane enough would." I muttered that part under my breath.

Corazon lifted a fist to his mouth in contemplation, not at all phased I said that his brother needed to be wrapped like a mummy in chains. " I honestly have a hard time believing you. But everything you've said seems too sincere to be a lie and...radical to be a lie made up on the spot or even thought up over time. So...for now I will believe you. However, if I find that this is a trick and you intend to betray me, I'll have no choice but to deal with you."

I gulped at his threat and gave a single nod. " Understood."

" So...what is it that you know?" Corazon leaned back in his couch, seemlingly opening an ear and mind for me.

" Not alot for this particular era actually. I only know certain time periods and from certain perspectives. This time period...its very spotty, even more so now that I'm here. There's alot of things I'm going into completely blind actually. My knowledge is...heavily depenent on where and when I would have landed."

" Where and when you would have landed?" He raised a brow. " Sounds like you know a bit of what is going on with you already."

" Yes. I've been thinking about my situation for a while actually and I think is has to do with a the theory of multiple universes. One studied where I'm from. I know you want an explanation so I'll try to condese this as much as I could considering I've observed some of these worlds. This world, lets call it a timeline. One is yours and one is mine. I'm in my own world, my own timeline, minding my own business and then I'm snatched and dropped here. Depending where on your line I'm dropped and probably a bunch of different factors determines what island I'm on, what year it is and who I meet. At least that's what I think. It's not everyday I'm thrown into a pirate filled universe."

" This is all ridiculous. Multiple universes? I'm so glad I'm still sitting down." he scoffed under his breath. " Okay, so is there knowledge you have but you shouldn't in your own...timeline? It was."

I shook my head "No. Just how you have no knowledge of the future events of your own world, I have no knowledge of future events of my world. Just that there are multiple worlds out there, each with their own stories and no way to physically access them. At least for the most part. There have been incidents of people crossing worlds though its only limited to people heavily invested in the particular world they're observing. Even within that statistic the crosses are incredibly rare. ...It's for the best honestly. This world and mine and hundreds of others are all incredibly violent. It wouldn't be healthy for anyone to have the most notorious villians from each others worlds crossing universes like osmosis."

"R-right." Corazon said, unsure how to process what I just said. Then he snapped up as if he just remembered something. " You said that you've observed some of these...multiple universes. Is the reason you know what you're not supposed to is because you've observed mine."

I nodded. Okay, he was catching on quickly. Perhaps this wouldn't be too difficult to explain as I thought " Yes and millions of other people for that matter."

"Do you know why or how these universes are observed?" he asked. Whether he was disturbed or not about being told there were millions of strangers watching his everymove he didn't show it.

I shrugged my shoulders and flipped my hand back and forth. " Yes and no? This is just my personal belief anyway. In every universe there is a story that desires to be shared. That story's desire is sometimes so passionate, and burns so brightly that its passion can travel to another universe and implant itself in the mind of one of those residents. That resident is then compelled to share that world's story in whatever form in can. Sometimes as a book, sometimes a moving picture and sometimes as a series of moving pictures or even a game. Then that story is shared to other residents of that world and spreads and spreads and once it starts it doesn't really stop."

Corazon seemed to try to process this information for a second. It really looked like he was struggling to understand what I was saying.

I sighed. " I know it sound like a load of crap but it's the truth. Honestly? I don't care if you believe the multiple worlds theory or not. All I want is for you to trust me and allow me to help you complete your mission. I think its time we come off this topic anyway."

Corazon looked at me and agreed. " Yes. This really is alot to take in and I don't think discussing other worlds is really important right now. What's most important is how is it that you are going to help me?"

"Just advise you. That's all I can do really. But before I say anything more, I need to tell ask you something. How often do you speak with Sengoku? Mission wise?"

"Sengoku? Not alot. In recent times at least. Why?"

"Because you become obvious."

"Obvious?" Corazon sat up straight with an alarmed look on his face. It was something he could not afford to be.

" Yeah." I nervously scratched behind my head and looked away from him. "As the Donquioxtes traveled you let the Marines know of their locations. Which is fine yes, but it back fires greatly because along your mission, you end up separated from them for about at least 6 months. Because you're not there to alert the marines, the Donquioxtes go undiscovered. Trebol links your absence and the absense of marine presences and begins to suspect that you're either a giant sore thumb or a traitor...they go for the traitor option."

" Shit. That's not good at all." the undercover marine bit the tip of his tongue then looked directly at me. " Do you know when this happens?"

" Around...two years from now?" I counted on my fingers. " But listen. I can't tell you everything at once okay? Coming from the others who crossed and decided to come back, turns out if you reveal too much major information at once things turn out much worse than they orignially were. For everyone involved. Knowing what I know, and how bad things get. I don't want to risk it. Period. Only if we're in dire straits will I say something."

"Alright. Since you know more than me about this I'll just have to take your word for it. But if I may ask, and it doesn't reveal too much...do I suceeed in bringing my brother down?" he asked, somewhat hopefull.

My mouth flew open then snapped shut without a single sound coming out. Should I really tell him, albeit super vaguely? I mean, this isn't the original story anymore. The ending has already changed but I really don't want to invoke the wrath of the apparent BROB's that usually take control of world's like these. Pursing my lips together, I made a decision to warn him.

" Me being here changes the original ending. This is where the original timeline splits from the truth into an...unprecedented possiblity. Yet most of the original still holds firm here and as such the threat of a worse ending still holds firm. I don't know if there are any repercussions for telling you this but...if it will give you ease then I will and may just have to face any oncoming consequences."

" It will ease me and I will accept the consequences of your actions as well since I asked you of it."

I paused for a moment then looked at him. " You personally do not stop your brother however, someone else does. Someone you've touched deeply. They don't do it for the same reasons though, and it takes a hell of a long time and it takes pretty much an entire fleet to stop Doflamingo and his crew but they get it done."

Corazon seemed to let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. " Okay. Not the answer I was expecting but certainly better than him not being stopped at all. But...that's the original isn't it? We're the unprecented possiblity."

" Well...the way I see it, this can go four ways. We get the original ending with longer steps. The original ending with shorter steps. A worse ending and a better ending. I'm banking for the better ending."

"Can you tell me at all what the orignial ending was like?"

I rapidly shook my head. " That's a definite no no. I'm trying to keep things as vague as possible here to avoid the 'Worse Ending.' Anything with significant detail is out of the question."

"Oh." Corazon was disappointed but understood. " I guess there's the end of that. Are you positive there isn't any other critical information to be aware of."

Well...there was one more thing I could tell him. But, I could only see all the different ways telling him can go wrong. I highly doubted there was any path with this information that could lead to good things happening. Especially considering who this little tidbit of information was about. Besides, this wasn't for Corazon to find out anyway. It was for Law. I put my fist to my mouth in contemplation and looked to the side for a bit, then shook my head.

" No. This is it. That's all for now I'm sure of it. As I said, I don't want so say too much in case I unlock the Worse Ending and I don't want to overwhelm you either. What I'm saying...I admit its a lot and unbelievable too and we've been talking for quite awhile so... I guess I'm going to leave now? And give you time to think about and analyze what I've said?" I wasn't sure how to end this rather unusual conversation.

" Yes." Corazon nodded. " I will take your advice into consideration."

" Please do." I said before going towards the door. With my hand on the knob, slowing turning it but not looking at him I said "One last thing. Stop throwing the kids. They won't be persuaded to leave. Doflamingo is currently their only support system so no matter what you do they won't go. They just take you hitting them as a game, well at least Buffalo and Baby 5 which is kind of messed up to be honest and borderline child abuse so...yeah cut that out. That's all I have to say. G'night."

Without giving him a chance to respond I left and made my way back to my room where I found Law sitting up reading a book with the light of an oil lamp. Whether he noticed I came into the room or not he made no indication of, continuing to be immersed in his book. Sliding back under the covers on my side of the bed, I shivered, realizing how cold it was.

" What had you so long?" He asked, voice flat and without actual interest.

" What's it matter to you? It's not like you to care about any of my affairs. Last time I checked, you hate me and wanted nothing much to do with me aside from our mutual affiliaton with the Donquioxtes." I matched his flatness with defensiveness.

" I don't care. This is merely curiosity speaking." His eyes still didn't peel from his book as flipped to the next page.

" Then your curiosity will continue to speak without answer then." I said and turned so that my back faced him.

He merely huffed, shuffled and snapped his book shut before blowing out the lamp and going back to sleep. Tomorrow continued our month long training session and preparation to enter the Grand Line. Even though the first half is considered Paradise, it didn't mean that it was okay to not slack off and train. There are some pretty tough pirates and marines in Paradise that took several shots to beat. Of course, considering this is about 13 years in the past there is a possibility this sea could be even more chaotic and untamed! I grimaced at that possibility, thinking about all of the other dangers the Grand Line presents on steriods. Bunching the comforter in my hand, I made a silent vow to persevere.

For Law and for Corazon.

 **Next time: A month condensed into a single chap because I personally don't like skipping large amounts of time. Won't be long though because nothing eventfull happens. All the juciy stuff happens on the Grand Line.**

 **Tbh I didn't like this chapter all that much. Felt like I turned Order into a bit of a Mary Sue with all the info she was spitting out. And I didn't like how I made Roci respond either. I might come back to fix it**


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